Fanfic inspired by Love's Melody
by usernpm
Summary: This is a my continuation of "Love's Melody" (one of the most popular fanfics of "Your lie in April", written by ProdigalSnake), started from after chapter 15. Kaori and Kousei are finally together, but will their talent fully blossom? Is the only way for musicians to evolve is through losses?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, and welcome to my first Fanfic chapter ever. I started this one after I became a fan of "Love's Melody", a fanfic written by ProdigalSnake. If you haven't read this piece, I highly recommend it.**

 **My story will take place after chapter 15 of "Love's Melody". I will discuss about why this is the case after this chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Kaori's anxiousness**

 _Background:_

 _Here are main events:_

 _Kaori survived the surgery (yes, tears of happiness were shed)._

 _Kaori and Kousei became a pair (sweet dream)._

 _Tsubaki and Watari became a pair (great job for making this so smooth, ProdigalSnake!)._

 _New musical rivals arrived. A violinist named Aurora made a bet with Kaori, threatening to take Kousei away from Kaori (very cute point)._

 _Shusui (pianist) and Aika (violinist) were the strongest among the new rivals. Shusui's idea that musicians could only evolve through losses disturbed Kousei (Now something's moving)._

While Kaori and Kousei were listening to Aurora, Kaori moved closer to her boyfriend, making him slightly nervous.

"She could do that with her mouth" - whispered Kaori, seeing Aurora's creatively holding the violin bow with her mouth.

"Yeah, amazing move" - answered Kousei, but suddenly blushed when realizing the hidden meaning potentially lied in Kaori's soft and attractive sound - "wait Kaori, that came out so wrong."

"What?" - Kaori paused a bit, and suddenly flushed as well - "Ah! How can you be so pervert? Baka! Hentai!"

"Stop! Please, Kaori! Punching is not good for a violinist's hands" - Kousei begged, unable to shield himself from Kaori's rain of fists.

"Hmm… after today, you will suffer" - Kaori stopped punishing his boyfriend, but not after giving him a good stomp on his foot.

Their mood today was brilliant, unlike the week before...

* * *

One week ago…

Affected by the talk with Shusui, Kousei walked home with a faster pace than usual, followed by Kaori. He made some tea for the two to calm down since they were not ready to practice yet. After a while, Kousei broke the silence:

"Kaori, you chatted with Aika… Is there anything interesting?"

"Uhm… the story of Shusui is quite sad. He lost his parents and his sight in a terrible accident and after that he devoted himself to music. He even thought that the accident was the way for him to evolve. Aika…" - Kaori remembered Aika's feelings, but decided not to share it - "but I don't think this story will help us improve our skills."

"I hate that idea" - Kousei clenched his fists, and his thoughts seemed to pour out - "he even showed me how I played when you were in the surgery. He judged how I supposedly transformed. Yes it was something I never thought I could play, but it wasn't because I suffered, but because I missed you, Kaori, and I tried my hardest to reach you." - Kousei's eyes expressed a rare level of certain as he looked at Kaori.

"Wow…" - Kaori tried to keep things together, having met Kousei's look. After a moment of silence, she continued - "but I think they truly have some skills. Can we reach that level? Should you ask for some help from Hiroko-sensei?"

"Kaori, have some faith in me. If we practice hard, we will beat them. I'll smash some sense back to that self-centered dude."

"Okay, I trust my boyfriend." - Kaori returned a smile.

"I love the sound of that b-word" - said Kousei - "my girlfriend".

* * *

The last few days were stressful for both Kaori and Kousei. They spent the whole day practicing together, and at night, Kousei sat before the piano refining his skills alone, while Kaori stayed in her room trying various violin techniques.

Kaori's skills started to change. Her personality was still present, but now somehow there was more peace and less fighting between her and the composer.

Despite this improvement, Kaori still thought she wasn't good enough. But it was clear for Kousei that Kaori had potential to create great music, showing the audience a beautiful merge between composer's thoughts and performer's playful spirit.

Kaori was also amazed at the effort Kousei could make. His notes were even more accurate than before, but they didn't seem like the work of a soulless machine. This time, Kousei had became a sword master, who could to cut the wings of a flying bee without killing it.

Through his music appeared a splendid ballroom in a palace, where Kousei as a prince walked to Kaori and asked her for a dance. Kaori took a quick peek at Kousei - a young prince full of life and ambition, a ruler of glorious springs, a complete opposite image to Shusui - the king of the dark winter. The spotlight as well as all the admiration were on Kaori and Kousei as they swayed on the floor.

This is all Kaori could have asked for, but somehow she felt uneasy. The natural and sweet sparkles Kousei and Kaori shared before was now replaced by the dazzle artificial light. The hand she held before was tender and a bit shy, but now it was somewhat formal and stiff. _Am I beautiful in your eyes? Am I able to meet your expectation? Do I deserve you, my prince?_. Her thought slipped into her music, and because of that Kousei skipped a beat as well. They were back in Kousei's room as his hand stopped.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention" - Kousei quickly apologized.

"Oh it's fine, we are practicing. Why did you stop? Next time we should finish the play before reviewing" - said Kaori. _I should be the one to say sorry, Kousei._

They looked at each other in the eyes, suddenly unable to find any joke.

"We definitely made some progress, don't you think?" - Kousei spoke again.

"Yep, I was dazed by the way you play. There's no way you could escape me and join the Europe tour with that beautiful violinist" - Kaori put on a sly smile - "You are even better than Shusui."

"You are a bit biased there. But I'm sure I can surpass his level with more effort. I will show the world that because we still have each other, we can evolve and become better musicians." - a big smile appeared on Kousei's face as he looked at Kaori.

"I trust you, Kousei" - Kaori answer, but somehow she feel even more undeserving. _At the end, all I can do is to trust him and rely on him._

* * *

It was already late when Kaori reached her room and stood before the scores. The violin was somehow heavier, and she couldn't find any strength left in her hands. Exhausted, she thought it would be wise to end this long day and go to sleep.

But even in dream, she couldn't escape her anxiousness. She found herself tied to a cramped place, unable to move her body. From far away, Kousei stared at the piano. When he started his first note, he felt into the sea of darkness and dragged the audience to the shore.

There was a kind and talented prince living in the castle of light. One day, his love was taken away from him by the gods. Heartbroken, angry, and lonely was all he could feel. He begged, he prayed, but in vain. All emotions motivated him to unleash his wrath towards the gods. _I will kill, I will burn. I will never stop until you return her to me._ Endless wars, endless ruins.

 _Gods are those who play with mortal's hearts. They give us hopes, then they take away our love and dreams. They seek to enslave us mortals by keeping us in pain and desperation._ Kousei whispered to the audience through the unholy music.

The gods were so entertained by the prince, they granted him immortality so he could do nothing but suffer. They banished his city to the sea and tied him to his throne. The once kind prince would forever rule in the sea of darkness, and forever defy the gods.

The audiences who sat on the shore could sometimes hear the words of our prince in the waves. And when there're storms, they could clearly see a sorrowful demon, throwing all his fury toward the sky where the gods lived.

The music came in waves after waves, pushing the audience to their chairs, making them suffocated. _Kousei can only evolve through losses. He is a demon_. But to Kaori, she could clearly hear Kousei shouting: _"Kaori, where are you? I will find you, no matter what."_ The voice was twisted because of loneliness and pain. Kaori tried to shout back: _"I'm over here. I can't move. Come and save me."_ But surprisingly, she couldn't hear her voice. _It's hopeless. I'm hopeless._

In the last attempt to save her lover, she prayed to the gods: _"Please erase me. Please set Kousei free and help him forget me. I don't deserve him. I don't deserve his love."_

Kaori was finally free from the chains. She woke up feeling nothing but emptiness. Tears started rolling from her eyes.

* * *

That morning, Kaori's play was awful. She missed notes here and there, and sometimes she didn't apply enough force, so the sound came out weird and disconnected. As a result, the two had to stop in the middle and repeat a few times, but the sounds were still not in sync.

Normally Kousei would yell about how careless and sloppy Kaori was, but today he felt something different in her tired eyes and the way she sometimes avoided his look. The violin was a bit sad and powerless.

"Is there something wrong, Kaori?" - Kousei asked softly.

"No, it's nothing."

"Well if it's about the bet with Aurora, don't worry. I didn't say I agree, so it doesn't count." - Kousei tried to lift the mood.

"Well, okay" - Kaori returned a smile.

After a moment of silence, she continued - "Hey, um... Kousei, I have something I need to do at home. I think I will return in the afternoon, okay?"

"Oh no problem at all. Let me come and help you."

"Ah no, it's personal. You keep practicing and I will be back soon."

A storm of thoughts soon filled her mind while she walked on the familiar route. _What's wrong with me? Why did I play so badly? It was the waltz I have been waiting for, and it was supposed to be sweet and lovely, but I couldn't feel it. Kousei has been practicing very hard, I must have disappointed him. I'm a terrible partner._

The image of Shusui and Aika and how they played flawlessly popped up in her head. She wished she could be as good as them, but she felt hopeless. _At this rate, I will drag Kousei to the same mediocre level as I am. I don't deserve to play with Kousei._ Without her knowing, Kaori's feet started running, and she rushed like a madman.

The feeling she feared most - the dream she had earlier today - came back to her. _If I died, Kousei would definitely transformed. He would play perfectly, and he would mature. Sorry, Kousei. I'm so, so sorry._

Tears started pouring out uncontrollably when she saw her parents inside the bakery. "Mom, dad" - Kaori spoke while her consciousness was leaving her.

* * *

 **I hope the quality of the chapter is not too horrible. I believe I have much and much to learn, so please share your thoughts by giving comments. Thank you!**

 **Reason for me to write this fanfic:**

 **Like many of you guys who came to this site after reading or watching "Your lie in April", I was unsatisfied with the way the story ended. After reading quite a few fanfics, I kinna fall in love with the piece "Love's Melody", as it was everything, and more, of what I wished for. It's a shame there's only 15 chapters when I read it, since I really wanted to see how the story will conclude. I tried to encourage the author of "Love's Melody" through my comment, but it didn't reach her/him.**

 **So I thought it would be passive and irresponsible of me to just wait for new chapters without understanding how hard it is for the author to make them. Furthermore, I also dislike the idea that someone could only evolve through losses. If this was the message the canon version pushed to us, then I would defy it till the end.**

 **That's when I decided I will write my version, to show my support to "Love's Melody" author, ProdigalSnake, as well as to give myself a most satisfied ending possible of "Your lie in April".**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 17: Missing Kaori**

" _Weird, she's not picking up the phone." -_ Kousei reasoned with himself - " _Maybe she's too busy and she leaves it somewhere."_

But after a half of hour and a few more trials, Kousei started to feel uneasy. This situation was similar to the time she was hospitalized just before the gala concert.

Suddenly, the phone call was answered. The nervous boy nearly shouted: "Kaori? Are you okay?"

"Ah hello Kousei, it's Kaori's mom."

"Sorry, Mrs. Miyazono. Can I talk to Kaori?"

"Kaori wasn't feeling well this noon, so we took her to the hospital."

"Wh-what? That's impossible!" Kousei shocked. _She practiced with me this morning. Wait, she was odd today. Could it be..?_ Kousei's fear had taken over him. _No way, she said she was completely cured._

"Calm down, calm down Kousei." Mrs. Miyazono was worried as well, but she had to assure Kousei since his voice was nearly lost. "My husband said she's not in danger. She just needed some rest."

"Thank God" - Kousei sighed - "Could you tell me where her room is? I need to go see her!"

"She's in the same room as last time."

* * *

Kousei ran as fast as he could to the hospital. Even though the sun's nearly down and the wind was chilly, he's sweating a lot and completely exhausted. It was Kaori's dad who opened the door for Kousei after he knocked.

"Hello Kousei, Kaori is resting now. Let's go outside a bit.. I have something to discuss with you." - Mr. Miyazono's voice was clear and concise.

His attitude made Kousei self-conscious. Thinking he was the reason Kaori enter the hospital, Kousei felt guilty and was internally preparing for being scolded at. The fact that he had never had any long conversation with Mr. Miyazono made him even more nervous.

"I want to know what happened to Kaori today at your place." Mr. Miyazono asked briefly while looking directly at Kousei's eyes. _What did you do to her?_

Kousei tried to describe in most details how today morning was, Kaori's disconnected performance, her reason to leave early, how he got worried and called her several time. He bowed down and apologized: "I'm sorry I was careless and irresponsible."

"Then why was she exhausted and crying when she reached home? She fainted right in front of our bakery!"

"Wha-what? She was? - Kousei's chest squeezed and it's hard to breath- "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I shouldn't have let her walked home alone." He was confused and regretted by everything that happened.

"I'm not blaming you, boy." - Mr. Miyazono grabbed Kousei's shoulder firmly to ease him. He still wanted to ask more questions, but decided to stop since Kousei seemed clueless and freaked out - "Kaori's been practicing till very late recently, and that could be the reason why she was exhausted."

His voice suddenly turned warm - "You provided valuable support for Kaori when she was down, and somehow persuaded her to take the surgery. I have to thank you, Kousei!"

"But I think you shouldn't visit her here." Kaori's dad darkened the atmosphere that was just a little light a second ago - "If Kaori see you now, she will feel nervous that she has to practice harder for the competition. Let her rest for now."

"I understand, Mr. Miyazono." Kousei was disappointed, but also amazed by Kaori's dad's sensitivity. He had always seemed like a carefree and simple-minded person before.

While the two walked around the hospital garden, Kaori's dad informed Kousei more about Kaori's current condition, and Kousei told him about the preparation for the contest. Listening to Mr. Miyazono's voice, Kousei could feel his tenderness toward his daughter, and even toward him as well.

"It's frustrating that us parents couldn't help Kaori much. When we knew she had that disease, we were broken down. I didn't know how to tell Kaori and how to stop my wife from crying." - Mr. Miyazono recalled those days when his family received the bad news. "But it's was our daughter who tried her best to cheer us up. She was always playing, smiling, joking in our house. I always thought she was an angel."

The father's voice filled with happiness and pride, something that couldn't be put into words.

"So Kousei" - Kaori's dad suddenly called, making Kousei jump - "What's Kaori's position in your mind?" - Kousei felt like being tested on the spot.

"She...uhm...before I met her, my world was blank and boring. I felt so guilty after my mom's dead that I couldn't play the piano. But Kaori was the one who bring color to my life and make everyday meaningful again. I came back to the piano because of her." - Kousei submitted his answer and wished for high marks.

"Hmm, Interesting. But that was before, and what about now? You are a good pianist and you are quite famous. What does Kaori mean to you at the moment?" - Mr. Miyazono grabbed both Kousei's shoulders and stared in the eyes, like he was trying to detect any hesitation and lies.

 _Kousei know who gave Kaori her roller-coaster-like personality now._

* * *

The next morning, Kousei woke up and stared at the ceiling for ten minutes, not gathering enough mental power to get out of bed. It's unusual for him to be this gloomy, even back in the days he couldn't play the piano.

" _I have to practice so we can get a high place"_ \- thought Kousei - " _This contest is important for Kaori's high school entrance."_ But it was clear that he still felt a bit lost and regret after not able to answer Mr. Miyazono's question. He's desperately looking for a solution, and playing the piano was the only thing he could do.

Kousei started practicing, but after a few moves he realized his mind couldn't focus at all. Decided to take a break by reading manga was futile as well. He skimmed nearly all his books, but nothing interesting seemed to come out.

Kousei tried cooking, watching TV, surfing internet - all the methods that he used to escape stresses, but the excitement wasn't there, nor his concentration and effort. He even tried writing scores of pop songs like he used to in his part-time job, but he couldn't seem to find the coolness he had when his world was monotone.

The whole day was wasted, leaving Kousei frustrated and tired. _And to think I wasn't able to answer your dad's question. Now that you entered my world, I can't function properly for a day without you, Kaori._

* * *

"It's great to see you, Ms. Hiroko." - Kousei greeted while standing in front of Seto Hiroko's house. It was a good thing she was back from work and agreed to spare the evening for him.

"Kousei, come in." - Hiroko greeted her student with a smile. She got a little weariness in her eyes, but nonetheless she looked at Kousei with the tenderness and warmth, making Kousei felt the mother's love.

"I'm sorry for bothering you like this. You must be tired after the tour." - said Kousei.

"Aren't you a little more timid than usual. Come on, raise your head and speak it out" - Hiroko paid more attention to Kousei's behaviors. He sat there looking down, his hands were clenching unconsciously on his laps. Kousei must have had a lot of things he's too shy to say. _It must be about love. What's an idiot!_

"Well, how about we hear you play first?" - Hiroko spoken again after a half minute of awkward silence. Kousei agreed and started playing what he had been practicing for the last few days.

"Hmm" - Hiroko raised a question when Kousei finished - "What did you think of while you were playing?"

"Well, I was thinking of a dazzling ballroom in the castle, because it was where the waltz should be performed" - Kousei tried his best to describe his picture - "And me and Kaori, we were dancing beautifully in the music, and everyone was locking their eyes at us with admiration. It's like, we live happily ever after." - Kousei realized that this was the first time he spoke about this out loud to another person. In his mind, the vision was always stunning and dazzling, but now it was too weird and embarrassing, even for himself.

"Pfff...hahaha" - Hiroko bursted out, making Kousei feel even more defeated - "So cliché, Kousei. Never thought you could become this lame."

 _Lame. I'm actually THIS lame. Yesterday, and even today were such a disaster!_ Kousei felt his fragile heart being pierced.

"On the bright side, you surely have made some advancement" - Hiroko finally calmed down and decided to save Kousei some pride. But after the comments about technique improvements, the roasting continued: "But you played the flashy stuffs without thinking. And why do you imagine such thing? You tried too hard to express fancy visions, it felt unnatural. There's no focus. This style doesn't suit you at all, and you have never consider it before. What was your reasoning?"

"You are right. I'm sorry." Kousei tried to remember why he's stuck with this vision - "The thing is, we didn't do well in the qualifying round. This time, we must play something special. We visited Shusui's place to search for some advice, but he had the idea that pianist could only evolve through pain and losses."

"Ah yes, he said something like that back in the contest hall." Hiroko remembered the gloomy blind boy with unusual charisma and talent.

"Yes, and I really dislike that idea. He implied that I wasn't developed since I didn't lose Kaori. So I want to show him that we will advance without relying on emotional traumas." Kousei claimed with determination, like he's declaring a war.

Kousei's change of attitude surprised Hiroko. She sometimes thought of the same idea as Shusui, given what Kousei could play when he bid farewell to his late mother and when he nearly lost his love. But seeing his defiant just now somehow made her proud.

 _You hear that, Saki? Our boy is strong. Kousei begins to find his own way. He will be happy, and he will be a famous pianist._

"Can't say I don't like your resolve, Kousei." Hiroko rubbed Kousei's head - "You just have to be more patient. It'll take time to master techniques; Don't put everything on the table when they are not refined. I believe you can do it!" Her encouragements surely boosted his confidence.

"Still, You didn't explain why you guys want to be prince and princess." Hiroko teased Kousei. She already knew the answer to that. - "By the way, how is Kaori doing?"

"It was my fault." Kousei's voice was lowered, filled with guilt. "Yesterday I should have noticed. She was exhausted, her play was discontinued but I didn't pay attention. I let her walked home by herself and as the result, she fainted and hospitalized."

"Did you visit her?"

"I did, but Kaori's dad said I shouldn't see her till she's released."

"Ehh? Why?" Hiroko was surprised. Then Kousei told her the detailed story, about how Kaori was overtraining, how her father worried for her condition, his questions for Kousei, along with Kousei's unsatisfying answers.

"Don't worry too much. Everything will work out for you guys." Hiroko cheered. _Kousei was just a boy with no love experience. Can't blame him._ Seeing him still affected by the situation, she suggested: "Let me play a song to calm you down."

* * *

First few touches on the piano was soft, but Koharu realized right away that her mother was playing. She immediately stopped drawing and ran to her mother from across the room. The little girl seemed to be ultimately joyful, as she tried her best not to scream out loud. She carefully approached the bench and climbed on it to sit next to her mother, listening excitedly.

The song was Brahm's Lullaby, but this was the version Kousei had never heard of. The music flew out to every corner of the room, creating a heartwarming feeling. Slowly and tenderly, the sunlight appeared, shining through the window. The curtain, the bookshelf, the piano, all started to glitter. The spring breeze was like a gentle touch on the cheek.

A calm mother was carrying her little daughter next to the piano. When she looked at the baby, all her thoughts and concerns were gone. Everything left was the vision of an angel peacefully sleeping on her arm. The little girl's cheeks were pink, round, and soft. Her hair was silky, and when her mother stroked it, the baby smiled. The small lips were always moving, sometimes pouted, sometimes smirked, sometimes it tried to tell a story.

The sound was gradually carried far and far away, creating a lasting feeling in Kousei's chest. He quietly looked at the pianist's back, but averted his eyes when he noticed Hiroko was looking back at him with a smile.

"That was beautiful, Ms. Hiroko." - Kousei felt tears about to come out from his eyes as he remembered his mother.

"So nice! Can you play it again, mom?" - the little girl talked loudly, breaking the silence.

"I wonder, what did you imagine in order to play like that?" - Kousei asked.

"Imagine?" Hiroko sounded curious of Kousei's question, since she wasn't trying to imagine anything when she played - "Hmm, I believed the music were already inside of me. I feel it every time I caress my girl's head, play with her, eat with her, sleep with her." Hiroko hugged her daughter. _She's the best thing that come to me._

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **Thank you for reading :D I hope you can write some comments on how I can improve my writing. I'm still new at this, so any type of feedback is a great help!**

 **Also, I'm thinking about the characters in the competition. If you guys read the fanfic "Love's Melody", you may notice Kousei and Kaori are competing against many strong opponents. What's your opinion about them? What would you like them to play? What could be their backstory? Please go ahead and give some suggestions. Thanks, and have a good day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 18: Healing day**

Everything seemed hazy and blurry. The young girl closed her eyes and opened them again to get a better view. But what was there to see besides a blank, white ceiling?

Kaori moved her hand tiredly, pushing herself up. An invisible hammer suddenly smashed her head. Something's itching on her arm's vein. A bandage. She realized she was in a hospital bed. Outside the window, the sun's coming up. It's the morning.

The girl struggled to organize her memory. She could remember playing with Kousei and then going home at noon. Then maybe she collapsed. Last night she woke up a few times, and her father was there to comfort her. He asked her what his beloved daughter needed and told her to relax.

The familiar room was quiet like usual, enabling all the feelings to crawl back to Kaori. Hours being alone and in pain. Waiting, wishing, regretting. The fear of death. The horrible thoughts of what would happen after death. She needed someone to be around. She needed answers. Was the disease not cured? Was she going to die soon, again? The feeling of losing the chance to have a new life was unbearable.

It's a great thing the nurse came in to bring breakfast for Kaori. She placed her hand on Kaori's back, sliding back and forth and tenderly in a circular motion to comfort the patient. "It's okay! I'm here. You are doing fine! You are fine, you don't need to cry."

* * *

The nurse knew Kaori well, as she was the one who took care of the girl before and after the surgery. Kaori's case could be considered as a miracle to many staffs working in this hospital, inspiring them to take good care of their patients and to never give up. So to this lady, Kaori was like a little sister.

She waited for Kaori to calm down, gave the girl her breakfast, then provided information about her current condition and the examination results so far. The doctors didn't spot any sign of the disease coming back, but to be sure they would need to check a few more things today.

Thanks to the care, Kaori felt better than earlier. She started walking slowly around the room and stretching her body a bit.

There were a lot of things Kaori had to think about. When she's back to full health, she would definitely put more effort into practicing. Even though it's exhausting and scary, she had to do it for Kousei, and for her further education. She had collapsed, and due to her weakness, she lost valuable time that could be spent refining her skills. She wouldn't allow herself to be this weak again.

Kaori walked around and played with her imaginary violin, thinking of what she would need to change, refine, or stop doing. This quickly exhausted her energy. Kaori tried to prevent the horrible thoughts, but somehow they kept filling into her mind.

Each note in Kousei's play increased the weight on Kaori's body. The notes were sharp. They were precise, dazzle, elegant. In contrast, the violin part was weak and disconnected. While replaying their practice, she felt more and more inadequate to play a duet with him. _'Was this because I didn't practice hard enough? Because I was distracted by many other things in life? Or there's another reason? Could I ever overcome this?'_

Kaori's head was in pain again and she had to sit down. Sweat came out due to exercise and anxiousness. _'What would happen if I didn't survive the surgery?'_ She wondered. _'Would Kousei forget about me? He couldn't be, right? Maybe he would evolve, and he would show the world how he missed me.'_ This thought was comforting but painful at the same time. _'But could it be that he would just forget about me?'_ Kaori felt unsure, thinking she might just fool herself all along.

* * *

It's already noon. A short knock on the door and Mr. Miyazono entered the room with a big smile, seeing his daughter standing on her feet next to the window - "Good morning, sweetheart."

"Dad!" Kaori spoke excitedly.

"I brought you some porridge!"

"Aw.." She seemed a bit disappointed. No teenager liked porridge.

"And some canelés as well! You can have this after you finish the porridge."

"Yay!" She turned happy again. Her dad really knew his daughter well.

"How are you this morning?" He asked while Kaori's eating her lunch.

"I feel better, dad. Just a little dizzy and tired sometimes, but nothing serious." She replied - "This morning the doctors did some checking. The results will be available soon."

"That's good to hear." He felt relieved.

"I'm sorry." Kaori noticed the weariness in her father's eyes - "I made mom and you worried."

"Don't worry, honey."- His voice was warm, tender and gentle. "How about I tell you a joke?"

"Not now, Dad." Kaori sounded afraid.

"Why not?"

"I might laugh so hard I spill my porridge."

"You're right!" - The father burst out laughing.

* * *

Most of the patients enjoy spending the afternoon walking and exercising in the hospital garden, but for Kaori, the rooftop was always her spot of choice. The scent of recently washed sheets was more relaxing than the complex smell in the garden. Furthermore, from here she could view her bakery rooftop, the Courage bridge, as well as many places of the city.

Today, what caught her attention were the buildings at the city center. They really did look like piano keys, which were placed on a keyboard that had no end.

This image made Kaori remember a movie she watched when she was 9 years old, in which the main character was a great pianist playing on a ship traveling between Europe and America. The little girl really enjoyed the music in that movie, but she wasn't experienced enough to understand why the pianist never got off the ship.

The end was sad but confusing too: the Main character refused to leave the ship, even when the ship owner decided it was too old and detonated it. The ship exploded and sank, and nobody on the land knew a great pianist just died, except just one friend who played trumpet together with him for many years.

But there was one thing Kaori and the pianist in the film had in common. The world out there, with the endless piano keyboard, had never been their world. Kaori was a special girl who accepted that she only had a few years to live. She didn't need to plan for her high school, her career, her own family like normal girls. She didn't need to comprehend the complexity of the world she wouldn't live in. She just wanted to play with all her might, so she would be remembered by a few people. Everything was easy when there was a final destination.

Today was different. She must face this unknown world. It's her future now. The large buildings. The vast sky. Even the airplanes looked so tiny from afar. Kaori felt the pressure coming from all direction, suffocating her. This tremendous world she was standing in made her feel incredibly small. There were so many questions she must answer. _'How should I live? How should I play? Would there be a goal, a key, an answer?'_ Everything kept expanding, and the girl saw herself as nothing more than a tiny little dot in this big and vast universe.

* * *

A sweet voice interrupted Kaori's self-doubt: "Hey, the pretty big sister is here. Come quick!" Kaori turned around to see two little kids, a boy, and a girl, running toward her and shouting: "Big sister! We miss you so much! Why aren't you playing with us anymore?"

Kaori recognized these two. Due to some kinds of genetic disease, they had to rely on a machine in the hospital for three days a week. The three patients often played on this roof and Kaori taught these kids to play simple songs, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

"I missed you too. Uhm… I will play with you more often, okay?" Kaori replied. She didn't know whether it was a good idea to tell the kids she was cured and she left the hospital.

"Okay. Come on. We have something to show you!" The little boy invited Kaori. She quickly followed and then played with the kids for the rest of the afternoon. After all, who could say no to those smile that knows nothing about illness and death.

* * *

 **Notes from Author:**

 **First of all, I wish to give Angelpaw33 a big thanks for helping me edit this chapter and for providing me valuable support ^^**

 **Secondly, I'm trying to refine my writing skills, so please help by commenting what you guys think about this chapter, what can be improved, what should change... Thank you all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 19: Under the moonlight**

The strong rays of the sun reached every corner of the piano room and gradually raised the atmospheric temperature. A boy slowly got up from the floor, with a few music sheets still clinging to his back.

A faint and familiar piano sound caught the boy's attention. By the time Kousei realized it was his ringtone, the music had already ceased.

' _What?! Six missed calls from Kaori!_ ' There was also a text message:

 _"_ _Why are u not picking up my calls (-.-#)? You'd better not overslept! Aw, I'm home now, and back to full health *\\(^O^)/* Let's resume our practice this afternoon ^^"_

* * *

Last evening, Kousei visited Ms. Hiroko's house and listened to her play. The performance was so special it gave the boy enough energy to stay up the whole night refining his skills. He wasn't satisfied with his work until the morning, at which point even the floor seemed to be a comfortable bed.

At the moment, while having breakfast (which was actually lunch) consisting of an egg sandwich, Kousei returned to the topic that had been in his mind since yesterday. It bothered that although his and Kaori's personal skills had improved, the two's cooperation wasn't as good as he expected.

The way Kaori played before she was hospitalized, with weak and disconnection sound, worried Kousei the most. Her exhaustion being the cause was the most logical idea he could think of, but he still suspected there were more complicated reasons. The pianist began to doubt that spending this afternoon practicing would somehow fix everything. They might reach obstacles merely repeating rehearsals wouldn't be able to solve, which meant they needed something else to break through.

* * *

Trying to squeeze out a feasible idea was not an easy task.  
 _\- 'Maybe I can play this part differently? Or this part?' - 'No, that wouldn't work.';  
\- 'Should we break down all the part and play it slowly?' - 'No, we only had an afternoon';  
\- 'Maybe we ask Ms. Hiroko? She might suggest something good' - 'Even if that's the case, how to execute that in a short time?'. _  
Half an hour brainstorming in front of the piano gave Kousei nothing but a headache.

Finally out of ideas, the boy dragged himself to the balcony and observed the children playing in the park to refresh his mind.

The cool wind blew and eventually gave a gentle touch that took Kousei's mind out of his wandering state. This lonely cherry blossom petal landed on the boy's hand infused him a pitiful feeling. Its pink color was faded and almost gone, which, combining with its light weight, made the petal so faint and sad.

This brought Kousei back to when he was with Kaori on a winter day before she took the surgery. Her pale lips were similar to this petal, but she smiled and joked around, just like the pink color still refused to let go. She was heartbreakingly light, still, she asked Kousei to carry her to the hospital rooftop. The moment he heard her discovery - "The snow looks just like cherry blossom petals!", Kousei silently wished he could enjoy the real flowers with her again.

The boy quivered when he realized: Spring was almost over. From million of miles away, the sun was sending down endless light beam to erase the colors on the flowers. The crude winds were assisting by plucking the few petals left on the trees away. And the whole earth was spinning and moving, making days hotter and hotter. Soon, there wouldn't be any flowers left. This transition would happen tomorrow. After today, spring would be replaced by summer.

Without a second thought, Kousei itched to get out of the house and enjoy the day with Kaori. This idea quickly occupied his mind, partly because he thought the two needed some changes, and he was totally out of ideas. Plus, they had been practicing nonstop for several weeks, so a break was natural.

* * *

'Boys are really hard to understand sometimes' - Kaori admitted. A few minutes earlier, she arrived at Kousei's house for some serious training. However, to her surprise, Kousei annoyingly insisted on going out and spending the whole afternoon having fun. Of course, she protested, but she had to give up. The boy wanted to play around so bad he had a tantrum inside his house and in front of his girlfriend.

At first, Kaori was still worried about not practicing, having skipped playing violin for two days. But the high spirit of Kousei convincingly slipped into her and pushed aside all the concerns. Then the beautiful weather, the cherry blossom, and the cheerful waves of laughter of the kids at the park seemed to join forces to lighten Kaori's mood and return the angelic smile to her.

Being a boy who rarely played outdoor, Kousei was surprised by how amazing things were when he enjoyed them with Kaori. Before he met her, the world was monotone and cold. Then his world was suddenly painted in beautiful color the moment he knew about this odd violinist. Now Kousei could hear the music in the surrounding. A petal flying with the wind is a chord. A grass left, another. Walking hand-in-hand felt like a soft and comforting piece of music while racing with the train was an exciting one. All the splendid music he experienced channeled energy into his heart, making it beat stronger. The whole world turned into a never ending piece of music that Kousei wished to play forever.

Kaori and Kousei managed to reach the famous outdoor market before they starved. Here local people sold many types of goods, like wooden toys, oil-paper umbrellas, decorated masks, and of course, a lot of cheap and delicious street foods. The images and the smells were irresistible to the hungry teenagers, who quickly bought the food until their hands were full and walked to a less crowded place to enjoy their meal.

* * *

The riverbank near the bridge of Courage had in it the charm untouched by human, with the distinct smell of grass, the faint scent from various types of wild flower, the ripples of water painted with moonlight, and the chilly wind bringing the freshness of the river to the teens.

"A romantic candlelit dinner." Kousei playfully emphasized each word while preparing the place to eat, where he would generously consider to be the dining table.

"Okay, so we have the food, and we have the table. Where's the candles?" Kaori asked curiously, assuming Kousei might have bought some before arriving here.

"There." Kousei pointed at the moon and the stars while smiling cheekily.

"Too far!" cried Kaori, surprised, amused but disappointed at the same time.

"Well here, too." The boy turned on the light from his phone, which at first made Kaori uncomfortably squint her eyes by the strong light. But when a paper cone was put on top of the phone, a candle magically appeared. Kaori joyfully copied that, making two candles on each side of the grass table to illuminate the dinner.

Listening to the waves from the river brought a surprisingly relaxing mood to Kousei, who was carefree enough to lay down on the grass to appreciate the natural symphony while comfortably looking at the starry sky. The girl next to him, however, couldn't enjoy the peaceful surrounding as much. She spoke the moment she couldn't ignore the contest tomorrow anymore:

"Kousei? What do you think about the contest? Is it okay for us to skip practicing today?"

"I think," Kousei paused for a few seconds - ", we were too worried about it. So our performance was somehow… not ours anymore." He looked into Kaori's eyes with confidence - "Tomorrow we just need to play with all our might, and we will be okay."

Kaori understood some parts of Kousei's idea since she also felt the same. But she was still worried about the future, how they would play tomorrow, whether she would disappoint Kousei or not, and whether she was pulling him back from his advancement. Many things in her mind were joining hands to make the girl nervous.

"Let's get up, Kaori. I have a present to give you. I was thinking of giving it to you as a get-well gift, but it's even better now that you were released." - Kousei stood up first and got rid of the grass on his back in a childlike way.

Kaori questioned out of curiosity. But instead of answering, Kousei gently reached out for her hand and asked "Would you like to waltz with me?"

"Huh?" Kaori was caught completely off-guard.

"What's with that reaction?"

"I thought you couldn't dance."

"Well, after you suggested, I looked up on the internet and did some practice. And, you know, Watari's case was also part of the motivation. He practically dances with Tsubaki to show his feeling."

"But I don't know how to dance." Kaori shyly confessed, to which Kousei cheerfully replied: "It's not hard. I will teach you the basic."

"The first thing is the posture. Keep your head high, lift your body, like this. Now the hand. Place your hand on this and hold my hands. Waltz is very formal. Now the steps. One is here, two is here, three is here. Four, five, six. Relax your knees a bit. Keep your head high and look at my eyes instead of your feet..."

* * *

After five minutes of training, Kousei believed they were ready. He turned on the music recorded with his phone yesterday and started counting a few beats. The pair took their first waltz step. To Kaori's surprise, Waltz's basics weren't very hard. The awkwardness soon faded as her feet steadily kept up with the rhythm.

Now that Kaori was calm enough, she noticed the way Kousei played the piece was very different from two days earlier. Each key was touched in a calm and precise way, producing melody that sparkled like stars. From the piano, the boy had created a scene, not flashy Ballroom and dazzling castle, but a homely yet pleasing musical world, immersed in tender moonlight. Everything painted with the silver light seemed to adopt a fantastic essence.

Within this world, Kaori noticed she was changing as well. At first, she was worried about her steps in the waltz and her place in this world, but that self-conscious feeling was discarded by her partner's gentle guidance and encouraging look. She put on a puny smile, surprised at how well Kousei danced. But that smile was retracted too, when the wonderful music or Kousei's genuine feeling toward her, two of which she couldn't distinguish, made its way to the deep parts in her mind. The girl could sense something rose inside of her and soon reached every cell, stronger and stronger with each heartbeat. Some feelings, but it was too intense, too beautiful. It was realized in the form of the violin music resonating inside her head and flowing out into this musical world.

The anxiousness occupying her mind in the last two days was gone. She could feel Kousei's music and the music she yearned to perform. 'This is what I've always dreamed of'. Tears of happiness started rolling from her eyes, and her cheek turned pink. Noticing the words she just said, Kaori buried her face in Kousei's chest to hide her embarrassment.

The sparkling tears made Kousei skip a beat. This was more than what he could dream of. Now that she's so close to his chest, his heart began to pound heavily with happiness. Kousei's eyes were getting wet as well, his arms naturally wrapped around Kaori, and his entire body seemingly melted.

' _My music has reached her again._ '

' _Finally, I could play together with him._ '

* * *

 **From Author:**

 **1\. I just have to make this dance happen. These two are so cute!**

 **2\. Thank you Angelpaw33 for refining this chapter for me ^^ You are so kind!**

 **And I hope you guys can tell me what you think about my writing and how can I improve the content by commenting below. That would be very helpful for me :D**

 **Alright, next chapter we will be back to the main event, the competition. Wish you all a good week!**


	5. Chapter 5

**We are back to the music contest ^^. This chapter is about the new characters the author of Love's Melody, a fanfic that mine is based on, had introduced. I tried to re-introduce them, but I hope you guys still remember :)**

 **Please help me improve my writing skills by sharing what you think (like what can be improved, what should be changed, other suggestions...) in the comment. I'm looking forward to it, thanks!**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Pain and glory**

The final round of the contest, which would decide who were the best young musicians, the situation of Kaori's further education, and whether it was true that artists could only evolve through losses, finally began. Kousei and Kaori reached the music hall on time and greeted their friends and opponents with enthusiasm.

The next significant thing that happened was Aurora's performance. Because this girl had made a weird bet with Kaori and Kousei, these two needed to watch her carefully. She played even better than the preliminary round, and as the result, the audience applauded with excitement. Aurora got off the stage and would like to play with her cute Kousei for a bit, but since she knew who would be the next performers, she rushed to her dressing room to get out of the dress, which was becoming more uncomfortable with all this sweat, and get in a much cooler shirt and jeans.

Aika had led Shusui, who was the talented blind pianist with the provoking idea that musician needed tragedies to truly mature, to the stage door. From here, the boy asked the violin girl to let go, since he wanted to walked proudly in front of the audience.

Nevermind their dresses, the way Shusui stepped was enough to inform the crowd what they should expect. His absolute calmness and confidence hinted that their performance would be nothing less than absolute perfection.

Due to these two musicians' incredible feat at the qualifying round, all contest participants, professional musicians who watched the show, music journalists and many others were itching to know who these two were, and how they managed to be so good. Most of them would be amazed, if not confused if they knew what happened just one day before the contest...

* * *

On the same day that Kousei and Kaori had their enjoyable date outdoor, Aika, in her formal clothes, stood in front of a bedroom door and spoke up: "Shusui, my parents and I are ready. We should go to the cemetery now." She couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not since his room was always dark, but she was sure the boy could listen to what she just said. She also knew it was bad to open the door since that would make the sensitive boy mad.

Aika had to repeat herself after a few minutes of silence. Then from inside the room, a soft piano responded to her call. It should be taken as "I'm busy practicing, please leave me alone" from Shusui, but today was a special day, so Aika attempted to convince Shusui again: "Hey, it's your parents' death anniversary. Even if the contest is tomorrow, you know we should at least visit their graves." Still, nothing was heard except the music.

Suddenly, the music switched from quiet to loud and quick. It was as if Shusui was losing patience and really wanted Aika to stop talking. The sound kept getting louder and faster to the point it became noisy.

Only when Aika footsteps were heard that Shusui's playing returned to normal. He knew she didn't mean to annoy him, but the boy still felt very unpleasant.

' _Even if someone cares for you, if they don't understand you, they should just leave you alone._ ' Shusui continued playing: _'_ _I never need to visit the cemetery. I see my parents here, next to the piano. Aika could never understand… She would just think I'm hallucinating... She only believes in what her eyes could see... She'll never get my perspective._ '

* * *

Staying inside the room and playing the piano for hours wasn't the only thing that created distance between Shusui and Aika. What's scarier to the girl was a ritual, which happened occasionally: when the sun was down and the wind started to get cold, Shusui would lit up the firepit in the backyard and face it alone for the whole evening. Everyone knew that those who had suffered tragedy related to fire would try to avoid it since the fire would make them experience the pain again. But Shusui sought it out and spookily drew inspiration from it, as his music was indeed more passionate every time he returned from facing the fire.

During the evening before the contest, Shusui performed the same ritual, despite Aika convincing him not to. As the heat bashed the skin on his face and the crackling sound when the log was burnt to the core reached his dedicated ears, memories, and emotions flooded back to him, making his heart beat faster, his eyes started aching increasingly, and Shusui began to relive the day when it all changed.

* * *

Three years ago, Shusui was a very sharp and curious boy. Playing the piano was just a hobby, for what interested him the most was science. He could spend hours in the library to study chemistry, and his dad was pleased to buy him a toolkit so he could perform his own experiments in his room. Since he primarily self-studied without guidance, naturally the kid was eager to make dangerous experiments while didn't care much about safety or telling his parents what he worked on. What could go wrong did go wrong.

It was a normal afternoon until a significant amount of harmful chemical entered and burned his eyes. The sharp pain of a thousand needles piercing him was quickly channeled to his brain and his heart. Taken over by frustration and fear, he overturned the table with an alcohol burner and all the chemicals on it. The boy was too tormented to notice the fire that spread quickly to the bookshelf. What he immediately wanted to do was to get rid of the chemical in his eyes, so he reached for the bathroom and tried to use the water, but it backfired. He was even more devastated, as toxic blood tears poured out and destroyed the skin on his cheek. His heart and his mind were shocked by the unbearable pain, and the poor boy collapsed on the floor.

He was made conscious later by the roaring fire and heat coming from the other side of the bathroom door. Shusui attempted to open his eyes, but his eyelid didn't obey him. Everything was dark, but the sound, the heat, and the smell were so obvious that Shusui knew his house was on fire. He shouted like he never did before. While crying for help, the boy thought he heard his mom and his dad calling for him. But they never reached him. Shusui passed out due to the smoke, and the next thing he felt was the hospital bed.

The three months after that incident was pathetic, as Shusui recalled. Knowing his parents were killed in the fire while trying to save him, Shusui did nothing else but lamented, cursed everything, and ultimately cursed himself. He wanted to cry, but no tears would ever come from his forever closed eyes. He attempted to end his life, the life of the most stupid, most worthless scum who killed his parents, and as the result, people had to take turns to watch over him.

Shusui's friends, especially Aika's family, who were closest to his family, tried all the methods they knew to relieve the boy. They all thought he was blaming himself just because he was too traumatized by the incident, and no one believed he really did what he confessed. They should have beaten him, isolated him, starved him, let him die alone in the forgotten corner, but instead, they hugged him, comforted him, provided him food and a place to live. They gave him the care he didn't deserve. While staying at Aika's house, Shusui felt even more worthless. He was nothing more but a blind and useless brat who killed his own parents, who survived without a future and a purpose, just because people couldn't stop pitying him.

The new piano arrived when the boy's life force had almost gone. He played it, or more correctly, slammed it since he couldn't see, for hours, every day. He let out all his emotions, which he couldn't tell anyone around him, onto the keyboard. Then one day, when the boy was finally got used to the piano, he played something he never thought he could do before. Light returned to him when the melody touched his ears. He saw his house, his room. And he saw his mom and dad. They were there, alive and well. They smiled at him and played with him. Too stunned with happiness, his fingers stopped, turning everything black again. And at that very moment, Shusui knew exactly what to do for the rest of his life.

With that discovery came many further discoveries, as he tried to listen to other people's performances, hoping to find someone who could sympathize with him. He understood what the artists' thoughts and emotions easily, but he also noticed that their music was mostly mediocre and lousy. The boy realized there was not a single good musician in the world, for none had suffered the same level of pain as him. And this boy, who was then just 13 years old, formed an idea that defined the musical world and separated himself from everyone else: Musician can only evolve through losses. He, Shusui, the killer of his parents, was chosen to demonstrate this divine truth. What he had suffered was, without a doubt, arranged by Fate, so that he could become the best pianist in the world.

But things were never that simple for Shusui. As years gone by, what bothered Shusui the most was a girl, who stupidly decided by herself that she was a friend of Shusui and she had to take care of him, despite not understanding what he thought and not believing his idea. Her music got more and more beautiful. Through the sound of her violin, Shusui felt her looks, her touches, her devotion. These little things got into him and gradually made him weak, taking the focus away from his mission. He had to put more effort to erase the disgusting vision, in which he and Aika, the most beautiful and caring girl Shusui knew of, shared a life of normal, happy teenagers. Shusui felt Aika's charm and sweetness clearer than any boy who had their eyes, but he silently hated her, he had to hate her, for breaking the walls he created to isolate himself from the rest.

He saved himself from Aika by minimizing their time together and by a ritual in front of the fire pit, which made he relive the moment he killed his parents. But lately, these methods weren't as effective as they used to. Therefore he had made a plan. This plan, with their performance at the contest as the ace card, would surely separate Shusui and Aika.

* * *

Normally in the _Devil's Trill_ , the violinist would start playing from the beginning, but here Shusui and Aika agreed to give a considerable amount of time for the pianist to set the stage.

The story began with a genius boy who often played merry melodies for the people from his piano. His music was so handsome and gallant that many girls couldn't help falling in love with him.

When the violin spoke up, it was obvious to everyone that there appeared a violin girl, not less talented than the pianist. Things happened just like the sweetest tales: the girl coincidentally met the boy, and they were immediately attracted to each other. Their relationship blossomed quickly and passionately, as their music made audience's heart danced with joy.

But everyone knew for sure that perfect things were not meant to last. The music began to change, at first subtly, for, in the pianist's heart, there were unknown, dark and evil corners. What he wished was never a happy life with a good wife and healthy kids. A genius like him was always cursed. The perfect pair of ears had, since his birth, showed him the idiocy of every sound in this world. He longed for impossible perfection, a music that could please his ears. That was why he played: not to make people happy, but to find others who could play beautiful music.

And the genius met this girl. She was the one who could please his ears by her beautiful music. But she wasn't perfect since she was alive, and therefore had to live and decay like many dull people. The music change started to become obvious. The pianist ruthlessly pushed the violinist to play more beautiful and painful music. He mentally abused and manipulated her, while showing he loved her when she obeyed him. The evil intention was increasingly revealed, making audiences shivered with creeping fear.

The climax was reached. The piano sound completely consumed the violin, showing how far the genius boy could go to achieve perfection. Now the violinist becomes an undying thing, forever lived inside the pianist, playing the best music for him without having to worry about a mediocre life. The piano sound became out-of-the-world beautiful and brilliance, while ultimately tragic and heartbreaking. It seemed that the pianist had evolved since he had killed and absorbed the girl who loved him and whom he loved. This pain that nobody dared to inflict upon themselves had made the artist complete.

This speechlessly frightening experience the audience felt in just a few minutes was exactly what Aika had to suffer for the whole week practicing with Shusui. She was, of course, not immune to the story, but she still followed Shusui for some reasons. The boy took the opportunity to continuously put pressure on Aika, resulting in this excellent performance.

But just before the end of the play, the sound of the violin caught everyone's attention. It was always there before, as a part of the piano sound, but now it tried to gain more strength, to become alive again. It was making an impact on the pianist from within him. It was odd and ugly and desperate, and it seemed to ignore the scores, but nevertheless, it was effective. The pianist had to put more strength to suppress the violin sound, and the performance turned into a fight happening inside the genius boy, who once thought he had controlled everything.

* * *

The performance ended the way every good novel did, as it left audiences shaken with the lingering feelings, multiple interpretations of the message behind the masterpiece, and the strong demand to know what came next. The crowd went wilder than what had ever happened in this music hall, but this marvelous scene couldn't find any place in the mind of Aika and Shusui.

While Aika's feelings, were a terrible mix in between excitement, guilt, relief, and anxiousness, seemed to nearly took over her ability to move, Shusui still walked off the stage as steadily and calmly as when he stepped on the stage. This, of course, blocked any chance for Aika to guess what Shusui was thinking about. As they reached the backstage, Aika reluctantly held Shusui's arms to guide him to their seats. But the boy, who seemed to be prepared, replied by a few simple words:

"I can walk alone from now on."

"Oh, okay. If you wish to." Aika persuaded herself to answer normally, but in vain. "I will change my clothes. See you in a bit." Then she quickly walked in the opposite direction, trying to produce the smallest sound possible. Her chest muscles, her stomach, her feet, her hands, and her skin found a perfect time to betray her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 21: Resignation?**

Shusui and Aika's performance still had a great effect on those who were at the contest hall, even though it had ended for three minutes. People kept talking about its joyful opening, its dramatic transition, followed by the extraordinary climax. They were also surprised and puzzled by the twist brought by the violinist at the end. The play seemed like a vivid dream, started with a sweet vision and comfortable feeling then changed irrepressibly into a nightmare bringing relentless torments. Some of the audience were simply disconcerted, some were in deep thoughts, some tried to organized the mix of emotions. The judges, who had listened to many artists, found this performance really special in both the skills displayed and the emotions expressed by it.

Even the most fair-minded audience would unconsciously raise their expectation on the later participants after listening to Shusui and Aika. They wanted to know what would become of the story that these two artists had shown, but they also demanded a new performance, joyful if possible, and equally as great, so they could overcome the sorrowful feelings that still lingered in their mind. This situation put a lot of pressure on the following players.

The next contestant was indeed nervous when he performed on stage. In order to have a chance of winning, he chose the risky strategy and utilized various piano techniques that he didn't seem to practice enough. These flashy notes and alien melody were received unfavorably by the judge and the audience, whose attitude was clearly shown by the polite and muted applause when the participant left the stage. For the young contestant, this was a sign of failure that he had to endure and reflect, and for the crowd, this performance just proved how exceptional Shusui and Aika were.

* * *

Observing the recent unsuccessful participant made Kousei feel familiar and uneasy. Familiar, because he also played with the same style just a few days ago, before being made fun of and scolded by Ms. Hiroko. And uneasy, because this style was clearly not attractive, especially in this contest.

Many thoughts appeared to trouble Kousei: If they couldn't play well and surpass Shusui, Kaori would have difficulty being accepted into musical high schools, and furthermore, Shusui would be right: artists do need losses to evolve, and since Kousei himself didn't suffer Kaori's death, he became a mediocre player. Of course, Kousei didn't want any of those consequences, but after hearing Shusui and Aika's performance, he seriously doubted that he could outperform them. This made the boy frustrated, which in turn made him nervous because he knew these feelings would negatively affect his play.

But under this pressure, the boy was still able to notice the anxiety that was building up in Kaori's eyes while she was also watching everything on stage with him. Feeling the need to calm her, Kousei moved closer and asked tenderly:

"Kaori, are you worried? About our playing?"

"Huh? Ah, No. No, I'm not worried! Wh-why are you asking?" Kaori tried to assure him, which effort was betrayed by a forced smile and a shuttered voice.

"Well, uhm…" Kousei was reluctant to believe the content of her answer, which was expressed by such a nervous voice - "if you think so then it's good. I was just thinking, maybe you were worried because we skipped practicing yesterday."

The girl hesitated for a moment while looking at Kousei's caring eyes. Finally decided it was better to let everything out before the big moment than allow the emotion affect her play, she faintly confessed: "The truth is, I'm really frightened about that. We skipped rehearsing yesterday and even two days before. What's worse, this morning I overslept! So now I don't know if we can play well and whether you will travel to Europe with Aurora and leave me here." When she finished, her cheek turned pink but she seemed more relaxed than before.

"Sorry! I should have practiced with you yesterday." Kousei apologized sincerely.

After a few seconds of reevaluating, Kousei added "But honestly, I really enjoyed the date. I think we were too stressed so it's necessary for both of us."

Knowing how Kousei felt made Kaori relieved since she also loved what happened yesterday. She was about to answer when a third voice, which came from the backstage staff, interrupted the conversation: "Contestant No. 7, Gold Nash, please get on stage. No. 8, Arima Kousei and Miyazono Kaori, please get ready."

Kousei spoke regretfully, clearly affected by the notification: "Time flies really fast."

"Don't worry, there will be a short break after this performance."

"Yeah, but still..." The boy silently wished there would be more time. Since their playing was very important for both, he desperately needed to recover his confidence, which had been shrinking after Shusui's play.

"So do you want us to rehearse again now?" Kaori suggested.

"No, I don't think that will help much." Kousei was still not ready - "Let's just look for Nash's performance because he's the second best in the preliminary round. And furthermore, he considers Shusui as his rival." The boy indeed thought he might find a good fighting spirit in this contestant, which would help him calm himself and prepare for his own battle.

* * *

Nash started to play a few notes of Allegretto from Beethoven's Symphony no.7 op.92 and immediately got all the audience's attention. The rhythm wasn't clear since the sound was very soft, but listeners could already imagine the dark and majestic Northern forest covered in snow. The pianist transformed into a general, who was leading his men to war through this dreadful terrain.

The pianist's army began to march forward sturdily, surpassing the danger and the coldness, as their footsteps could be heard in the piano sound which was becoming clearer and clearer. His force was indeed energetic and zealous, yet each soldier was in order, holding their position and moving ahead precisely under the general's command. Then the men engaged in battles, which were increasingly dramatic and emotional. This was where the sound became powerful and intense, but it didn't break out and turn into a frenzied brawl. The order was still maintained in this army even in chaos, showing a perfect combination between men's pure instinct and military's regulation. The music was indeed a rare merge between Classicism and Romanticism.

No fewer than two times did Kousei think that Nash would get too excited and carried away, given his style was a mix between Jazz and Classical, but the player showed that he was incredibly disciplined, while no less skilled in conveying his ambition to the audience. His impressive performance actually became an encouragement for Kousei and Kaori. The two looked at each other, delighted with the same strange thought: _"If Nash could play fearlessly, so can we."_

After the prolonged battles, the army temporarily rested as the music switched to a softer tone. However, this was when Kousei noticed the change in Nash's music. The rhythm was sometimes unstable. Without a doubt, it slowed down as the tone got quieter. The soldiers were not merely tired, they seemed to doubt their chance to win the war. Too many losses and too few gains had struck down the spirit of even the bravest men. What would the general do in this situation? He tried to force the men to obey, he demanded to re-establish order in his army. But his efforts were in vain, as the army couldn't recover to its former self.

"Don't give up, Nash! Push forward!" Kousei murmured. He could enter the mind of the player and know what thoughts were ruining the place, once filled with optimism: _"How could I achieve this impossible victory? I have tried every method, I have sacrificed everything. Yet the distance between me and the rival - Shusui - was still too large."_

 _"Maybe I will quit now and fight another day. That would be a logical thing to do since there's no meaning to continue if I cannot win."_

Kousei turned to look at Kaori and coincidentally met her quivering eyes. A thought flashed in his head: _"Don't look at me like this. My anxiety will affect your mind through our look as your concerns will channel themselves to my brain."_ They both turned away immediately to avoid letting the other know what they thought, but it was too late.

Kaori couldn't let Kousei see her weak side once again. She got up and spoke with a calm voice, which was such a miracle of the current situation: "I will go get dressed now. Don't be too worried, Kousei."

* * *

Part three of Nash's performance, which continued the battles in part one, had finally begun. It seemed that Nash planned to just finish his play as an obligation. The music was still passionate and fierce, but it didn't maintain the discipline that was dedicatedly kept in the beginning. The general, who himself had lost hope to win the war, threw everything that he had left at the overpowered enemy.

Kousei couldn't listen to this performance anymore, as it had been wounding to his confidence instead of recovering it.

And the young pianist, who was desperately looking for an answer to perform in the next few minutes, brought himself to the final solution. He admitted, disappointingly and dispiritedly, that Shusui was right, that artist really needs to losses to transform. Kousei was able to ease his mind a bit after making the decision, even though this was the one he never wanted. He continued his thought: _"I also lost my mom, who brought me to life and loved me with all her heart, and I nearly lost Kaori, who inspires me with her wonderful music and through that pushes me forward to face this immense life. Maybe because Kaori survived that I forget the pain I have endured, and thus my play become dull in comparison to Shusui."_ With this reasoning, Kousei tried to remember how he felt at the worst moments of his life, in order to somehow get the power to become the best contestant.

At the same time, Kaori found herself alone in the dressing room. This private space was comfortable, given she couldn't allow her uneasiness to be shown to Kousei. Alone, she could now reflect on all things that had happened in this week: _"If only I had improved my skills faster, or that nightmare hadn't come, or I hadn't fainted and hospitalized, then everything wouldn't have turned this bad."_ She let out a regretful sigh, questioning why all those bad things had to happen at such an important week.

But the week wasn't completely awful and forgettable, because she also experienced extremely beautiful moments, like when she danced with Kousei on the riverbank, under the moonlight. And when she was on the rooftop of the hospital, she learned that the new horizon had opened before her, giving her no choice but to move forward, embracing all the marvels as well as overcoming all the obstacles.

Noticing that time was running out, Kaori decided to fix her mind on a clear and simple resolution. The girl swiftly took her violin out and held it in the position. _"I won't let our performance become something I have to regret"_ \- Kaori murmured her magical words and started practicing her part for one last time, using all the focus that she could muster. The violinist's hands, at first still trembling, were becoming smooth and stable as she played on.

* * *

Nash got off stage in the cheer of the audience. But his hasty steps suggested that he didn't care about how they felt, and might even ignore the result if it was announced right then. He glared at Shusui and saw the boy with his usual impassivity. This could mean anything, but to Nash, it was the expression of the winner looking pitiful, but certainly with pride, at the loser.

" Well, just wait! I will win next time!" - The pianist exclaimed aloud as soon as the stage door closed behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 22: Waltz of the Flowers**

There seemed to be few music rehearsals more peculiar than the one Kaori just did, as it was done just a few minutes before the actual performance and in a dressing room so small that a bed wouldn't fit in. However, this brief practice session had a great and positive effect on the violinist. Before playing her violin, Kaori's hands were shaky as her mind was distracted with uneasy thoughts. Now she could delicately put her dear musical instrument back in the case with a smile on her face and a warm feeling inside her body. She was indeed fairly satisfied with her music. Clenching her fist, the girl exclaimed to herself: "Focus, Kaori! No regret!"

Nevertheless, it was not the time to enjoy herself. The violinist glared at her watch and excitedly realized that her performance would begin in just fifteen minutes. She quickly got changed, hesitatingly decided not to do her hair and adjust her makeup, and left the room with light and swift steps in the direction toward Kousei.

* * *

But Kaori's delightful mood was cut short by a scene that came to her right when she entered the main corridor: Kousei, still sitting at the place when Kaori left him, was covering his ears with both hands and buried his face between his knees. The boy seemed to roll himself into a small blue and sad ball. Guessing this meant he was suffering from great stress and anxiety, the girl rushed toward his seat in order to comfort him.

"I'm here, Kousei. What happened?" - Kaori spoke softly to the boy's ears, while her left hand was tenderly rubbing Kousei's shivering back and her right hand was grabbing and moving his hand away, revealing his pale face.

Kousei sniffed like a little kid upon hearing her words, his eyes blurred by tears. Without saying anything, he moved her hand close to his chest, allowing the girl to feel his heart beating timidly. This small gesture made Kaori slightly blush in astonishment.

It was not until an awkward minute later that Kousei finally muttered: "Please stay close to me. I don't want to lose you ever again."

"Geez, I was just away for 10 minutes. What's wrong? Please tell me." Her voice flustered after his honest words.

"I'm sorry, Kaori." The pianist proceeded, not without pauses and hesitation, to tell her that he had accepted Shusui's idea, and then tried to remember his pain by recalling the final days with his late mom and the times he visited Kaori in the hospital, witnessing the life slowly abandoning her, before she was cured by the operation. He initially planned that this method would miraculously provide the strength that he desired, allowing him to surpass Shusui. The victory in this contest was so important to Kaori's further education that he accepted the consequences of calling the memories he never wanted to experience again.

However, it seemed that this method backfired, as these memories didn't bring him the courage or motivation but clouded his mind and broke his fragile heart instead. All he ever realized was his helplessness and his failures. At the moment Kaori saw Kousei, he was questioning deeply why he kept playing music, if it always took his precious people, one by one, away from him.

"It's so painful to imagine that you could have gone and left me alone, Kaori." The boy sniffed again.

Kaori stared at the ground, not knowing what to say since she felt deeply astonished and guilty at the same time by Kousei's story. She was shocked because Kousei was so serious and desperate that he even tried this odd solution, and regretful because if she could understand the boy better, maybe he wouldn't have to suffer. Finally, the girl decided it was best to comfort him, so she turned toward Kousei, and with her most gentle look, she spoke softly: "It's okay. I'm with you now, aren't I?"

Kousei's words also made Kaori remember her struggle in the week. Feeling some truthful stories could ease the boy's heart, she spoke: "It's funny how, just a few days earlier, I had a dream about what would happen if I died. This crazy dream floated around in my head and made me so nervous I ended up in the hospital, you remember?"

The troubled boy, upon hearing these words, immediately turned toward her with his eyes opened wide, showing he was paying attention.

Seeing the effect of her story, Kaori continued with a voice even sweeter: "In my dream, when I was gone, your music evolved and transformed. It was out of this world emotional, beautiful, and obsessive. I was glad that I had such an important role in your development, but at the same time I was scared." She held his hand firmly, sharing the warmness of her hand, and finally spoke what she had been keeping in her mind: "I didn't know whether I was holding you back, Kousei. Even now, I still don't know if I'm worthy to perform with you."

This was such a revelation to Kousei, as he didn't know what was the cause of her faint. He convinced himself that she overtrained and exhausted herself but still couldn't stop imagining other unknown reasons. Sometimes he suspected that her sickness wasn't cured completely, and Kaori, as well as her dad, lied to him about it. Straightforwardly asking wasn't a good choice, so he had to keep the worry to himself. But after understanding what troubled Kaori, the boy was much more relieved. And his heart swelled, knowing her incredible devotion to him.

So despite his shaky self, still bothered by the painful memories and the unresolved challenge ahead, Kousei caressed the girl's hand and sincerely spoke: "I'm so, so sorry, I was the cause of your pain." Kaori slowly shook her head, thinking what had happened was not his fault.

The boy moved his head closer and looked at her with his caring eyes, showing more clearly that he would speak from the bottom of his heart:

"Kaori, I don't know, and will never want to know what'd happen if you're gone. Maybe I would become a better artist like you said, but more likely I'd quit playing completely. But there is just one thing I'm sure:" - he emphasized solemnly - "I would definitely trade away my ability to play music just to see you again if that's what was needed."

He continued after a deep breath, his voice was even more assured: "So please, Stop thinking that you are holding me back, Kaori. And don't ever think you are not worthy to perform with me. I'm happy to play music with you, every day."

The girl was so amazed by these direct words that she was simply speechless. Her cheeks turned pink and tears would come out from her eyes if she wasn't distracted by the staff's voice informing that it was time for Kaori and Kousei to get on stage. She took a deep breath and returned to reality.

"Kousei, it's our turn." - the girl gently pulled her partner up and then smoothed out the creases on his coat, so that he could be neat when presenting on stage. After fixing his messy hair, she softly caressed his cheeks and spoke: "What you just said warmed my heart, Kousei. Thank you." She smiled so pleasantly - "And for now, I want you to know that I don't care if Shusui's idea is right or wrong, and I will ignore the nightmare and all my concerns completely. What I know is that: I'm here, and you're here, and we have the audience waiting for our performance. So let's do our best!"

"Kaori..." Even though the boy had been with her for more than a year, he was still overwhelmed by how this girl could be such a great inspiration. It wasn't just because she had perfect blonde hair and a charming dress and a smile so bright that it made her beautiful face shine. Kaori being here with Kousei was certainly a miracle to him. Her words, her looks, her life story, and her actions warmly and convincingly swelled his chest and filled his heart. With these feelings, he realized that there was only one thing he wanted to do, which was to seize the moment with her.

And the answer to all his questions was so simple that it nearly stunned Kousei. The boy could recall what he had vaguely figured out when hearing Ms. Hiroko's play: He just needs to fully experience what's happening now and play it with all his might, and it will be alright. There was no need to think of the future or the past. When the artist got on the stage, he lived for the moment.

So Kousei gave Kaori a tender hug. His hands were no longer trembling and his breath no longer disturbed by nervousness. He whispered a few words to her ear, which resonated delightfully in both souls - "Thank you!".

* * *

As Kousei approached the stage with his partner, he noticed the familiar dry air conditioning and the smell of dust, the same things he experienced in every competition participated. But instead of being self-conscious by them, his whole body was warm and exhilarating. He was ready to play. And by looking at the violinist's eyes, he knew that she was feeling the same.

They both greeted the audience and got in position. The face of these listeners, having been through many sad, gloomy, and depressing performances today, was indeed expressing the demand of fresh and exciting music. This condition was perfect for Kaori and Kousei. So without further delay and hesitation, they whispered their magical words and started playing their waltz.

* * *

The first few notes that Kousei carefully performed immediately brought a new and refreshing melody to the whole house. Gathering all his concentration, the pianist elegantly invited the audience to join his musical world, which was in the dawn of spring. The pure and fragrant air of this world convinced the listeners, one by one, to leave all their thoughts behind and enjoy the breezing winds wafting through the budding leaves.

The violin sound, no less uplifting than the piano, gently called the grass, the flowers, and the saplings everywhere on this musical meadow to sprout in harmony. The bright green color was pushing back the evidence of the awful idle winter. Visitors, apparently having slumbered for too long, gradually opened their eyes to witness the blessed change of color happening around them. They instinctively took a deep breath and were excited to experience the season.

With initial awkwardness behind, Kousei set his spirit free on the music. This energy made the buds vibrated and fluttered wherever he stepped. The pianist's heart, like a warm little sun, connected to everything on the meadow and made them full of life.

It seemed so amazing that these two players, without having to delay or accelerate for a millisecond, still synced splendidly in both tempo and emotion. While the boy was making every plant filled with energy, the girl, with her dedicated violin, caressed each bud so that all of them blossomed into colorful and adorable flowers. As the two waltzed across the meadow, they left a trail of rainbow flower carpet, making the viewers awe pleasantly.

The couple kept dancing happily and turned the whole scene into a delightful and vivid picture. Watching they dance with their music, everyone in the hall could feel their love, which was still fresh and innocent like spring, soft like a playful breeze and fragrant like newly bloomed flowers. They unconsciously leaned forward from their seats and their heads nodded and swung to the rhythm of the waltz.

The experienced listeners appreciated this performance even more comprehensively. They knew that the love they were witnessing was not yet the luscious one that mixed with the heat and dust of summer, nor the stabilized emotion colored by the autumn, and was definitely not the chill feeling that pierce the heart with winter cold. This was doubtlessly the love that appeared when the first spring flowers bloomed, and on top of that, this was expressed skillfully and naturally, without any slight trace of awkwardness or nervousness. This kind of performance was so rare and precious that each artist could only express once or twice, and the music appreciators had to be very lucky to hear it now.

But for Kaori and Kousei, nothing in the hall entered their mind except their own music. To be more precise, they didn't hesitate any second about how to play the next notes, didn't question how to impress the audience, and simply ignore the contest altogether. The music naturally originated from their heart, ran smoothly through their veins and transferred to the music instruments without any bit of imperfection. The vibration and the exhilaration feeling in their body harmonized so well with the music that both performers were completely surprised and immersed in their own melody. There was no further doubt about the musical world since the Kaori and Kousei could certainly feel that they were dancing in it and experiencing a whole new sublime type of existence.

* * *

Just a few seconds after the performance ended, the crowd burst out the loudest cheer they could make. It was simply impossible for the most audience to tell which performance was better, Shusui and Aika's or this one. These two plays were just too different. While the former was influenced deeply by the artist's life and ideology, the latter was a brilliant moment when the artists enjoyed life to the fullest. But both performances were beautiful and excellent.

Another difference that the audience noticed between these two pairs of artists was how they respond to the cheer. While Shusui and Aika seemed to walk away normally after their play, Kaori and Kousei stood next to each other for a long time, greeting and looking at the audience with faces full of contentment as well as sweat. The two were indeed pleased that the music of their heart had reached many people and in turn connected their hearts together.

Kousei and Kaori had focused so much on the performance that their minds were now blank. Concentrating for the whole song was something unimaginable to them, even after they had done it. The partners looked at each other's eyes for several seconds and finally realized that it was time to leave the stage for the next contestants, so they greeted their beloved audience once again and started moving toward the stage door.

* * *

"We...hah...hah..we had done it, Kaori." Kousei tried to speak after the stage door had closed behind them, but clearly, he was out of breath and even strength. He leaned on the wall so suddenly that the girl had to quickly grab him, fearing he was about to fall. But all these actions took away the last of her energy, so she also ended up leaning against the wall. The two teenagers stared at each other and they seemed to be very amused by their friend's heavy breaths.

When enough energy was recovered, the couple burst out their childish laughter at the same time. It was too early for them to care about the result, and it also seemed that they didn't want to know immediately which position they could make with their play. For now, they just knew that they had nothing to regret.

Leaning her back on the wall, the girl continued to giggle until she noticed a shadow had covered her. Kaori opened her eyes to meet another blue pair of eyes, big and bright, planted perfectly on a sweaty and pink face. Kousei was placing his hands on the wall behind Kaori and his body was inching closer and closer, following the call of her perfect lips. Equally enchanted by the moment, the girl gently motioned forward, her eyes sweetly gazed at the boy, making her even more beautiful. Both pairs of eyes closed happily as the two shared a long and passionate kiss at the corridor, right behind the stage door.

The world was indeed nothing to these lovers, since only when they opened their eyes and separated to catch their breath did they see Takeshi and Emi walking by. The boy, who had his spiky yellow hair slightly more messed up than usual, was covering his eyes and showed the invisible audience that he could walk just fine without seeing. The girl was behaving no less bizarre than Takeshi, as she was now showing all kind of emotion mixing together while appreciating the spectacular blank ceiling.

And as if two accidental witnesses to the romantic scene wasn't awkward enough, now that Kousei's eyes were clearer he could see several heads popping out from the corner in this corridor, all staring curiously and cheerfully. It seemed that every contestant were now made aware of the love between the two teens, which was expressed through a spectacular performance and a bold and fearless kiss in the public.


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is focused on Takeshi and Emi. I think the manga didn't show much about these two's personalities, so each one of us might have different ideas about them. This is my portrait of these characters, feel free to add what you think about Takeshi and Emi in the comment section.**

 **Thank you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Takeshi and Emi**

Kaori and Kousei's performance and their bold romantic act behind the stage was indeed very interesting to people in the hallway, most of whom were curious and imaginative teenagers. Lucky for the lovers, the crowd quickly dispersed and shifted their attention to the stage where the final performance would take place.

Another piano was pushed to the stage center and arranged so that two pianos were opposite each other. The contestants and audience were confused by this arrangement, which had never been seen in any previous music contest.

When the two contestants, Emi and Takeshi, greeted the audience and went separately to their piano stools, a lot of discussions sparked inside the hall:

"Are they going to play together? I thought they soloed in the preliminary round."

"Yeah, apparently. I saw that on today programme. So this must be their trump card to win."

"Hey isn't it unfair? How are they allowed to join force? It will be a huge advantage for these two."

"But if one of them fail they will fail together."

….

* * *

The music piece being performed on stage was Overture to the Magic Flute, which belonged to Takeshi's favorite opera. He loved everything about this opera: The opening, the characters, the ideas, the music. When he watched it, he felt charmed and enlightened.

But the few notes that Emi was playing brought none of those positive feelings, instead they gave Takeshi a chill in the spine. He took a quick look at her and saw everything he feared: her excited movement, her smirk, and her eyes that were sparkling fire.

It couldn't be clearer that Emi played differently from when they rehearsed together. Even though they were cooperating so well with each other when they practiced, now Emi suddenly became rebellious and expressive, as to eliminate Takeshi and take the stage for herself alone.

Together with her behaviors earlier and the sharp look she just gave him, Takeshi couldn't help but suspecting that this weird girl was executing a plot to make him a fool.

* * *

 _What happened to her? Why is she like this? I thought everything went smoothly. Let's see_. Takeshi instinctively searched his inner diary for a sign that foretold Emi's peculiarity, but none of them appeared in the last week.

On the first day, Takeshi managed to convince Emi to play this piece by presenting elegantly how the opera Magic Flute was a masterpiece, and how playing the Overture would give them a high chance to win this contest.

On the second day, Takeshi succeeded in making Emi to play according to his style. There was a small contest between them to see whose style was better, and by winning the contest, Takeshi knew that Emi would be happy to follow him.

On the next few days, Takeshi recalled he was practicing energetically while also helping Emi figured out how to play the piece. By extensive research, he was able to accumulate a lot of knowledge about Mozart, the Opera, and the era in which the masterpiece was born, so it was clear that his guidance would allow them to grab the composer's will.

The boy was careful enough not to trigger Emi's rebellious nature. By consulting Nagi, his little sister, Takeshi believed he know how to make a girl feel comfortable. He walked with Emi from her house to his and back, and he bought her delicious sweet potatoes and Taiyaki. They often chatted, mostly about music-related topics like their favorite music pieces, or the famous composers and performers.

 _I followed all of my sister's advice, so Emi cannot have any complain about me._

Yesterday, Takeshi couldn't stop imagining about today, the day he and Emi would win against many strong contestants, including Kousei, Nash, Shusui, and by that Takeshi would show everyone he was not only capable of performing beautifully, but also able to lead and inspire other. This fantasy made Takeshi so excited and charged that he rolled side-to-side on his bed until 4 am, when the tiredness finally took over his body.

Even today's early afternoon was completely okay, as Emi showed up with an excited and focused mood. He was prepared as well, having rehearsed several times with her and alone. But in middle of the contest, Emi disappeared.

At first Takeshi thought she was just having a walk to stretch out her legs. But as ten minutes passed, he started to feel something wrong. After failing to call her phone, he looked for his partner everywhere in the hall and around it, and even asked the staffs to help searching for her, but their efforts ended up in vain. With this sudden disaster, Takeshi panicked. He couldn't believe that all his hard works was ruined by Emi, who was known for being the emotional and unpredictable. His stomach couldn't bear this, so Takeshi had to enter the bathroom to let his lunch out.

Not until Kousei and Kaori finished their performance that Emi appeared, making Takeshi's heart jumped out of his chest. What was beating timidly because of anxiety was now thumping out of control due to hope, anger, and confusion flushing in altogether. Emi wore a blood-red dress and with bold make-up, she looked just like a blood drop. The intense and strong emotions in Emi's outfit choice and her face expression made Takeshi worried, but there was no time to ask what happened since they had to quickly get on stage.

* * *

What Takeshi worried about Emi turned out to be true, as she began to aggressively swallow him up with her performance. She was disregarding the author's will, he thought. _This piece should be played composedly and elegantly, and she's playing all wrong! Don't show strong emotion like that! What is she thinking?_

An idea suddenly appeared in his mind. _She's gaining all the audience's attention! If I still play like the plan, everyone will think I'm the inferior. She's evil!_

Takeshi knew he had to convince Emi to change back, so he stared at Emi criticizingly, his lips mumbling, questioning her individualistic behavior. In return, she gave the frustrated boy a mocking and challenging look, while kept playing in her own way. This touched Takeshi nerves. _She is challenging me? She remembers that I defeated her few days earlier and wants her revenge on stage, in front of all people? How can she not think about the situation? We are in a contest, Emi, stop fooling around. Arrgg!_ He hated that he couldn't yell at her right now for being so unreasonable.

Takeshi couldn't figure out what to do with this girl except keep staring at her, sometimes angrily, sometimes begging, but nothing was effective. The piano boy angrily clenched his teeth together and decided it was time to change strategy.

 _You want to fight? Let's fight! I will make everyone focus on me._

With the new solution, Takeshi began to let his emotions out and express them on the notes. _If she is expressive, I will be even more expressive. I love the Opera and the music piece more than her. I understand and sympathize with Mozart more than her. I will let my emotions overflow and beat her arrogant ass._

His heart beated faster, his breaths shortened and his fingers moved frantically. Takeshi gradually lost control. He had yielded to his own feelings and changed his style completely, from elegant and composed to rash and emotional.

It took a minute for Takeshi to let his rage out and become conscious again. And with consciousness came a sudden shock in the mind. _Wait! What was I doing?_ Takeshi clearly felt that what he just did was wrong according to his plan. Losing control to one's own feelings was the exact opposite of what Mozart wanted to convey in this music.

A feeling of shame ran across his whole body. _Oh no! How can I be so stupid?_

 _I should win against Emi and have everyone's attention at least?_ Takeshi raised his head to look at Emi. His breath was immediately stuck in his chest, realizing that his supposed partner, who's now his main competitor, was performing even more splendidly and thrillingly than before.

 _Damn it! I felt right into her trap!_ _Emi usually plays exceptionally well when she faces a challenge and has an opponent that she could eliminate. She's aggressive and competitive, and she uses her repulsive emotions to her advantage very well. Fighting in her field, I have no chance of winning._

Takeshi was shaken again with rage, but this time he couldn't tell the target of his emotion was Emi or himself. His head was spinning, and he was about to mess up again. But luckily he was not an amateur in contest, having participated in enough music contests to know how to deal with stage-panic. He had lost control a minutes earlier due to Emi, but he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

So the frustrated boy decided to take a deep breath. This was effective in every past contest, and it still seemed to be the right action. Takeshi then stopped glaring at Emi as he tried to calm down.

 _Alright, my breaths are normal, and I'm focused now. But I still can't win. What should I do?_

In this dire situation, he recalled a valuable advice that his instructor had given him, which had shaped Takeshi's play style and helped him in many contests. Mr. Takayanagi's voice was exceptionally clear and enlightening when he said these words:

 _Your strength is to understand the composer and interpret the scores correctly. Unlike many other players, you research intensively and thoroughly about a music piece before performing it. This habit will be favored by the judges in every contest, and in the long term it will make you a great musician._

 _Your weakness is to work with your emotion and quickly react when facing unpredicted situations. You have difficulty keeping the head cool and often let your fingers run wild. However, this could be prevented by working hard on training and planning ahead._

Takeshi had been following the advice strictly by always carefully researching and practicing the music piece he had to play. He kept his emotions simple and hidden, his admiration to the composer and his determination to win was only shown through how deeply he could interpret the music scores.

Playing the piano didn't stop the boy from analyzing the situation and finding for a new strategy. _Letting Emi draw my frustration out was just plain foolish. Stupid me! If I want to win, I have to… have to… Aha! My strength! I have to use it!_

Takeshi judged that if he wanted to win, he had to use his strength. He had to do what the composer would do in this situation. The boy tried to search his memory, including Mozart's performance, his songs, his stories, and his letters, but nothing showed up to help Takeshi in this situation.

 _Mozart had never dueled against such a sassy girl! What would Mozart do in this situation? Think, Takeshi, think! Look deeper inside your mind. Look deeper… deeper…_

* * *

Takeshi kept his eyes fixed on the piano keyboard but his attention started to flow inside himself. His consciousness appeared on a muddy and slippery road. The weather was cold and ugly, snowing and raining at the same time. Takeshi walked ahead and soon entered a city within a high gray wall. Many signs from the city showed that this was Vienna from the 18th century, where Mozart lived and composed marvelous music.

He asked the first citizen he could find and was then led to Mozart's residence. He knocked the door, shaking with all the respect he had for Mozart and the pride for being the only musician who could travel to the past to meet the legend. But no one opened the door for him. He knocked again and again, more and more impatiently. The door was still shut.

At last, when the sun was down and the temperature dropped uncomfortably low, Takeshi decided to turn the knob himself and take a look inside. Not a single gleam of light was there.

 _How could Mozart's house be like this? It is supposed to be full of light and crowded with people. What's wrong?_ Takeshi's skin started to have goosebumps.

A creepy thought flashed in his brain and made him want to return. But Takeshi dismissed that idea, for nothing was stronger than the urge to meet the genius composer, even the dangerous darkness. As he walked inside, the door behind him slapped shut and before him appeared a middle-age man in Viennese aristocrat costume. He spoke in perfect Japanese to Takeshi, who seemed to shiver by everything that had just happened:

"Hello Mr. Aiza Takeshi, I'm Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. How may I help you?". The famous composer surely had the manner of a typical Viennese gentleman.

The excitement of meeting the great composer freed Takeshi from the fear earlier. "It's the greatest honor to meet yo-... Ah!". His tongue was immediately frozen when he noticed that Mozart's body was glowing in the dark, emitting cold and terrifying yellow light. This light illuminated a bit of the floor below him, showing that Mozart's feet was somehow not touching the ground. Deeply shaken by the scene, the frightened boy screamed and shouted: "Ah! Ah! You are not human!"

"Come now. I have left my human flesh for a few hundred years, of course I'm no more human in ordinary sense." Mozart seemed to expect Takeshi's reaction perfectly. "But investigating my current existence surely was not the reason you call me, wasn't it?"

Mozart's words and voice, natural and elegant as they were, was still not enough for the boy to relief his tensed body. Seeing the confusion in the Takeshi's eyes, Mozart continued: "You know, composers never die. A piece of our soul is attached to every song we create. So when the musicians play our song, we show up to hear them. But few musicians directly call us for help when they perform. So you must have something you desperately want to ask, right Takeshi?"

"Hey! Takeshi! Boy!" Mozart called the boy again a few seconds later.

"Ah, right! Thank you for your attention." Takeshi was brought back to the main topic after being called several times. At last, he managed to focus himself on figuring out how to win in this contest and ignore everything else, however scary they were. "I hope you can give me some advice about how I should play the Overture to The Magic Flute. I was playing your way when Emi-"

"You say you were playing my way, young man?" Mozart seemed to be irritated when Takeshi talked about his music. "How ridiculous! How disappointing!"

"Ah!" Takeshi was shocked, his mouth stuttered. "Bu-but… with all my respect to you sir, I hope you can reconsider my performance, si-since all I did was to follow your scores accurately! I studied you carefully, sir, before interpreting this piece. My teacher even complimented me. And…" Takeshi just couldn't accept the composer's criticism. Earlier Emi clearly ruined his plan, and now even Mozart wasn't acknowledging him at all. _How can everything go wrong like this?_

"The scores." Mozart emphasized. "These scores." A few papers magically appeared on Mozart's hand. "If all you did was to follow my scores, then clearly you didn't understand what I wanted to convey." He pointed to several places on his own creation, saying "you see, here, here, here, these are just a few places that I would change. You know why?" His eyes stared at Takeshi, seemingly wanted to test the young musician.

Takeshi was caught off-guard again today. He was no good at quick decisions in sudden situations, so he just stood there and couldn't say anything.

"You blockhead! Don't challenge my patience! I will tell you why just this time, so listen carefully." Mozart's voice was loud and high, undoubtedly showed his annoyance. Takeshi couldn't see Mozart's face clearly, but his voice was enough to make the boy feel tiny. "First, there was simply no excellent pianist in Vienna at the time I wrote this Opera, so I would have to simplify my piece if I wished for it to be played. Second, the piano in my era wasn't complete, and modern piano are much better, and the techniques are developed as well, so why keep playing like this? And of course, there were more reasons, but these two are very obvious that you should have known."

"Thank you for the most useful facts. Uhm...". Mozart's shocking words clouded the boy's mind. He didn't know what to say next after seeing Mozart's stunning reaction about the his performance and hearing Mozart's thoughts about the score.

 _Even Mozart say the scores wasn't good. But I followed them blindly. Was everything I did in the past wrong?_

To be honest, Takeshi did read somewhere that the music scores were imperfect presentation of the composer's ideas. But he could interpret the scores so well that he thought showing the composer's will was just a matter of how deep you research and train. He always believed the only way to express composers' ideas was to stick with the score. Now he was pushed into uncertainty.

 _Is it okay to change the score? Do I understand Mozart enough to do it? How should I change the score? How to do it correctly?_

"Here," Mozart suddenly handled Takeshi the sheets, interrupting the boy's train of thoughts, "I quickly make some notes on these. This is how the Overture to the Magic Flute should be if I write it today. But I will only do this for you once. Next time, you have to do it by yourself." Apparently when Takeshi was discussing with himself, the genius composer had hastily made several changes to his own music.

All Takeshi could say was "Thank you very much, sir!" He was still stuck with all his questions. When he raised his head and looked around, Mozart was not there anymore.

"Wait. Where are you? Huh? Who? Oh, where am I? What am I doing? Wha.. Ah!"

Like a lightning struck underneath his feet, Takeshi realized that he was on stage, and he was performing with Emi.

* * *

He was brought back to reality so abruptly that his fingers pressed very hard on the keyboard, making out-of-place loud notes. This made all eyes focus on him, including Emi. But the accident was no matter to Takeshi, as he stared back at Emi with a new cheeky and confident look and a wide grin on his face.

 _Now I have Mozart's help, you are no match for me!_

But just a second later, Takeshi also realized something shocking and very disappointing: They had approached the end of their performance. Trying as hard as he could, Takeshi was still not able to revert the situation. He had played first frustratingly and then mindlessly the whole song, and now he had to face his failure.

* * *

Takeshi's mouth opened as soon as the two contestants got off-stage, for if it were shut his mind would explode from the anger and irritation kept within. "What's wrong with you?"

Emi turned and looked at Takeshi with a surprised expression. Her eyes opened widely, her brows wrinkled, and she spoke like a strict teacher who's disappointed at her student's performance. "What's wrong with me? I should be the one who's asking. What's with you? You failed! And you dragged me down with you!"

"You played differently from what we have agreed. You have to challenge me on stage, don't you? Do you want to get your revenge?" Takeshi didn't expect his partner's response at all. "Because you changed your play unexpectedly that I was caught off-guard and couldn't play like normal."

"What are you talking about? I play exactly like how we planned. And I don't recall challenging you! You were the one who started first, Takeshi." Emi replied, her voice was even clearer and more confident. _Don't blame me for what you did, Takeshi. You should check yourself._

"WHAT?" Takeshi pulled his hair with both hand. He couldn't believe how ridiculous Emi was. But as a logical and reasonable teenager, he tried to lower his tone: "Look, Emi. Don't you realized that you didn't follow what I instruct?"

An strong signal sparked in Emi's brain and heated her whole body when the word "instruct" was heard. She thought: " _You, instruct me? Ridiculous! I was being nice and listen to you all week, Takeshi. But what you said was just suggestions. I do what I want."_ Emi felt the need to crush Takeshi's assumption that he was her instructor, and she had to follow what he said. "I didn't follow what you instruct. So?" She spoke with fierce tone, putting both of his hand on her waist, "You think you can instruct me?"

"But… But that was the plan." Takeshi cried, trying not to go insane.

"The plan! The plan was to follow the composer's will, and I did that. It's you who do not follow the plan by letting your childish feelings in." She sounded like a mature person lecturing a little boy.

Takeshi literally jumped when he heard what Emi said. His fists were clenched so tight, but he restrained himself from fighting. _Can't hit a girl._ "I showed you how to play to honor the composer's will. You should have followed that! I have studied carefully about Mozart, so I couldn't be wrong!" The boy completely ignored the conversation with Mozart that he experienced on stage, for the only thing he wanted to hear now was Emi's apology.

"Oh yeah?" Emi raised her voice and also pointed her fingers at Takeshi's chest. "You think you understand the composer of this opera? Then go ahead and tell me mister, what's the message of it?"

"The message," Takeshi spoke loudly and bluntly. Then he pushed Emi's finger away and swallowed his rage but still needed a few seconds to let the words out, "is that human can achieve happiness by walking on the road of art and science."

"Heh!" Emi laughed mockingly, completely rejecting the partner's idea. "I thought you were smarter. The idea was clearly about courage that born from true love."

Harsh laughters and words couldn't help coming out from Emi when she knew that even though Takeshi was wrong about the Opera, he kept acting like Mr. Know-all before her.

Now it was Takeshi's turn to lose it. _She think I'm stupid? Oh she think she's smart?_ _Just look at her! Acting superior, looking down on me. Why don't you admit it, Emi? You should know my idea is right and yours is not._

His teeth clenched and blood was rising to the top of his head. He recalled having to looked for her the whole afternoon, and now she wasn't a bit sorry. The teenager's head was about to explode when a sudden and authoritative voice was heard:

"That's enough!"

The firm and seriousness in the voice made both hot heads turned, who then saw Ms. Yuriko Ochiai, Emi's teacher, and Mr. Akira Takayanagi, Takeshi's instructor. They seemed to be dangerously angry. Behind them was the security guard, who looked at the two teens with the eyes that said: " _Argue more and both of you will be out of this hall!"_ A lot of people were also paying attention to these event.

The appearance of three adults wasn't enough to solve the dispute between Takeshi and Emi, but luckily it was enough to make their voice turn to normal. Takeshi spoke first, nearly cried: "It's Emi. She's unreasonable. She ruined our performance!" In response, Emi chose to look away and remain silence, the behavior of someone who's very confident in her decisions.

Mr. Takayanagi spoke briefly and calmly to Emi and her teacher: "We will discuss about this tomorrow." Then he turned to the security guard, "I'm sorry for the convenience." Finally, the instructor dragged Takeshi away from the crowd.

* * *

"It's true, you also saw for yourself, right?" Takeshi spoke with his instructor when both of them had sat down. "You saw that Emi played differently from when we rehearsed."

"Yes." Mr. Takayanagi adjusted his glasses.

"So it's all her fault!" Takeshi exclaimed. "If she hadn't changed, we would have followed the plan perfectly!"

"You are being one-sided and irresponsible, Takeshi." Mr. Takayanagi's answer put a bucket of cold water on Takeshi's head.

"What? It's not my fault!" The boy couldn't believed his instructor was scolding him.

"Be quiet and listen if you want to fix yourself!" The instructor voice was stern and clear. It effectively got Takeshi's attention.

"First of all, you know she is a moody player before you invite her to join you, right? You take the risk, you deal with it. Second, you were slow and passive when she changed her play. Think of it as an obstacle targeted at your weakness, and you failed. Third, you seemed to be very confident about your interpret of the music and about your training, so why didn't you stick to it? When she changed, your play style also changed, but it became worse. Think for yourself, Takeshi! Do you understand what you have to do? How you have to play?"

Each of the instructor's points seemed to pierce a hole in Takeshi's heart. They were crude and direct for the boy, but he couldn't argue further. Even when frustrated, Takeshi was still able to analyze the words and he knew his instructor's comment were correct and objective. He could barely muttered while looking down in remorse:

"I'm sorry."

Takeshi's chest squeezed tighter and remorseful tears were about to come out from his eyes when he thought carefully about his mistakes. At the end of his struggle that last for ten seconds, Takeshi managed to keep himself together and spoke again, this time more clearly:

"I'm sorry, Takayanagi Sensei. I will correct my mistakes. This won't happen again!"

The instructor put his hand on Takeshi shoulder, "Think of this failure as a lesson for you. It will be valuable if you want to develop and become a great artist." His voice was still unamusing, but it contained a glimpse of genuine faith in his student.

Takeshi wholeheartedly agreed. The way he acted on the stage and the words he heard directly from Mozart had showed Takeshi that he still had a lot to learn. Despite the regret of not able to win in this contest and the irritation caused by Emi, the boy raised his head and his eyes were once again filled with determination to sail into the unknown seas.

Takeshi's reply was brief, but its energetic tone clearly expressed his resolution: "Yes, sir!"

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **Hello, thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you guys can tell me what you think about it in the comments. Knowing your opinions, what you think is good and not good, and what need fixing is great for me to improve my writing. Thank you very much!**


	9. Chapter 9

**As the title suggested, this is the concluding chapter of my fanfic. I wish you guys will enjoy it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Conclusion**

While Takeshi and Emi were struggling on stage due to their unusual partnership, Kousei and Kaori had found themselves a quiet spot to sit down and rest. Their performance, as beautiful as it was, required a lot of attention and energy and therefore the two performers could feel no strength left in their limbs when they got off stage.

As these two sat next to each other, Kaori took the opportunity to come closer to Kousei and lean slightly against him. She tenderly held his right hand and childishly caressed his fingers, as to massage the delicate muscles here after the feat they had just made. Kousei seemed to have no objection aside from a small shudder, but his face was gradually turning red.

They exchanged no word, partly because their emotions were all exposed on stage so whatever they tried to say would become abundant. And furthermore, both of them had felt immerse revelation after the performance.

* * *

Kaori was thrilled being able to feel so alive after playing wonderful music and enjoying the wholeheartedly cheer from the crowd. She had this feeling before when she performed last year, but it was short lived because she was reminded that her time was running out. Now the emotion was much bouncier, as her heart jumped, her chest swelled, and her goosebump erected whenever she recalled the performance, which happened five minutes earlier.

And driven by this brilliant emotion, for the first time after her recover, Kaori experienced the undeniable confidence in herself. She knew that she had found the answers to the concerns that bothered her for a long lime. She would never have to ask herself how she should live and how she should play ever again.

As Kaori recalled, it wasn't hard to be confident and motivated when she believed there were only a few years to live. She lived a carefree life and she played music whenever there was audience, because she wanted to exist inside their memory, so that when she was gone there would still be a place in their heart for her. Everything was so sure and certain when there was a deadline to live by.

It was truly a miracle that Kaori was saved. Having extra years to live was a wonderful thing to everyone, but to those who had made peace with the end such as Kaori, the new horizon that suddenly opened before her still made her heart tremble. It was hard to face all the questions like a normal people would have to go through. She couldn't know right away how she should live and what she would do.

Now that she perceived no deadlines, Kaori was naturally more self-conscious about whether her play style was right, and she had come to fear that maybe she was holding Kousei back, and maybe she was not worthy to play with such talented partner. These bothersome thoughts had lingered inside her mind and troubled her this whole week.

But all of her concerns were weakened by Kousei's caring words and actions, and finally they were shattered wonderfully by the music that the two just shared on stage. Hearing such glittering and colorful notes he played with her, Kaori could be sure of his feelings and his thoughts toward herself. She was so delighted knowing Kousei had invited her to his fantastic musical world, presented her a meadow full of spring flowers, and danced with her swiftly by syncing their music together. Kaori's heart pounded with excitement when she realized that Kousei had dedicated the whole play for her, and that in those six or seven minutes no one else was in his mind except her. And without the need to hear any word from his mouth, Kaori felt without a doubt his sweet affections was flowing inside the music.

What's also awesome was the triumph feeling Kaori had when she recognized that she was able to respond properly to Kousei with her violin. There was music inside her heart and her veins when she played on stage, and this angelic music still resounded in her even now, when she sat next to Kousei. She no longer doubted her ability, since this music that she made with Kousei was so wonderful it even surprised her. And what's more, her violin and his piano melody harmonized together perfectly, as if they were born for each other.

It was this memorable performance and the way Kaori and Kousei wholeheartedly played that made Kaori feel the sparkle inside all of her cell. No more self-doubts and worries. In front of her eyes, the vast and unknown horizon appeared again, but it was not scary anymore, as she had Kousei with her. Together, they could start their journey and sail the unknown seas.

And silently but firmly, she promised to herself, _"From now on, I will play with all my might, not because I will die, but because I'm living. I'm living, and I want to continue to live like this, in love, in music, and in giving everyone the excited moment they will never forget!"_

With this promise, Kaori's mind was completely at peace and a lovely smile appeared on her face. She closed her eyes and softly leaned her head on Kousei, enjoying the slim shoulder of a pianist.

* * *

Next to Kaori, Kousei could experience all the excitement a teenager boy have when his girlfriend warmly leans on him. For a while now, he could feel his own heartbeat: it was not fast, but ecstatic, happy and nervous at the same time. And because he was focusing on his chest, Kousei didn't notice an idiotic grin had appeared on his face. Lucky for him, the two had chosen a place where people hardly looked at when they were busy watching what happened on stage.

Enchanted as Kousei was, he couldn't pay any attention to how his friends, Emi and Takeshi, was having a rough time on stage and how they fought when they completed their performance. Of course, the boy didn't see how nervous the other competitors were when the result would come out in fifteen minutes. He didn't even remember he was in a competition. To him, the two were sitting on a meadow, enjoying the natural beauty and peacefulness.

Kousei's entire mind capacity was shared between sensing Kaori's gentle touches, her soft breaths, her sweet scents and also figuring out what had happened when he and Kaori performed.

But thoughts could hardly interpret what the two just played. The music showed Kousei's and Kaori's special feelings, which couldn't be expressed by words. The notes he felt himself playing contained more emotion that a thousand sweet and caring words he could say. And the melody he heard from Kaori's violin touched his heart in a way that he never felt before.

Through their performance, Kousei was able to not only reveal his affections, but also discover the emotions inside him and inside Kaori. " _Isn't it wonderful, Kaori? Isn't music magical, mom?"_ , Kousei thought, " _In the way that music shows what is in the artist and amazes the ears, even of the artist himself? In the way that music resonates in the artist's heart and enriches himself? Isn't music a heaven gift that help human connect to each other's soul, a gift that is even more powerful than words?"_

His eyes looked upward to heaven and he silently give his gratitude to his mom, his first music teacher, " _Thank you for teaching me music and believing in me, mom. Thank you for giving me this gift of heaven, without which I wouldn't be able to connect to people. I couldn't imagine what would be of me without music."_

Kousei turned to his right and tenderly looked at Kaori, whose head leaned on his shoulder to enjoy her sweet dream, " _Without music, how can I meet such an amazing person like you, Kaori? And without music, how can we connect our souls in such depth as we did? So thank you, Kaori, for making me play the piano again. You cleaned the dust on my piano and in my brain, you pushed me through the suffer and struggle so I could once again perform the music, and you never stopped believed in me even when I had no confidence in myself. Thank you."_

With his heart full of gratitude, Kousei vowed to himself in a way that would have no chance of disturbing the angel's sleep, " _From now on, let's build our music world together. We are set on a journey, Kaori."_

The discover he had just made shed new light on what he was worried about. He thought about the conversation with Shusui and about the idea that artist could only evolve through losses. The memory was still inside his head, but now Kousei couldn't feel the irritation that he usually had when recalling this idea.

Assured partly by the satisfactory performance, and partly by the way of artist that Kousei fixed himself on, he thought Shusui's idea was no longer important. " _Pain or not, evolve or not, we will walk forward, Shusui. Because we are artists, who was given music to connect people."_ He thought, " _And, what does "evolve" mean anyway? Also, you didn't prove your conviction very well, Shusui. The theory have no strong evidence. "_

Kousei smiled cheekily when he spotted flaws in Shusui's idea and found a way to retort. Stimulated with temporary excitement coming from inner argument victory, Kousei turned to his friend and would like to share his newfound idea. But he was stopped again by her peaceful expression when she slept, and decided that his idea was much less significant than her rest right now.

" _There's no need to say_ _anything. I will prove my point by action. From today, we will never stop moving forward, on our way."_

Kousei kept his eyes on Kaori and his mind filled with sweet thoughts, so once again he wasn't able to notice other people passing by, often not without looking at the couple and blushing or giggling cheerfully.

* * *

The result came fifteen minutes after Takeshi and Emi finished their performance. A brief and normal ceremony was held, which celebrated Shusui and Aika as the winner of the competition. Falling just one percentage point below them, Kousei and Kaori was prized second. Helding the third place together were Nash and Aurora since they had the same mark.

Needless to say Takeshi and Emi didn't win any prize. They were still annoyed by each other, but they managed to keep their rage inside and swore to revenge later on.

When every competitor got offstage, Shusui told Aika to lead him to Kousei so he could speak a few things.

The blind boy, who had his pride of winning exposed obviously on his face, began to say with a boastful tone: "Hello Kousei. You obviously know by now, right? That your resolution, whatever it is, was no match for mine."

Kousei and Kaori should have felt irritated by this direct action, if they had not experience such beautiful moment with each other on stage. Kaori looked at Kousei, wondering how the boy felt after hearing Shusui and worrying that he might be disappointed with the second place. In response, Kousei gave her an assuring look and gently held her hand. All these actions happened in just two seconds without making any sound, so Shusui couldn't tell what the two were doing, but Aika seemed to understand the nonverbal communication and gave the two her sincere affection.

Kousei returned to Shusui with a calm and constructive voice:

"Ah congratulation on winning, Shusui and Aika. I know we didn't play as good as you guys did, but we will surely play better next time. So we are looking forward to competing with you guys again."

Hearing this upbeat answer and recognizing the unshaken voice of his opponent, Shusui's face seemed to slightly twitched with annoyance. But he quickly recovered his position and said: "Well try whatever you may! You will never be as good as me, hahaha! Goodbye." The boy turned to Aika, "Let's go home."

Aika wanted to say a few words to Kaori and Kousei, but she didn't want to displease her friend. The girl turned to Kaori, "Goodbye! See you guys later!" Aika's words was accompanied by such a grateful look and smile that the conversation was immediately brightened.

"Alright! See you later!" Kaori and Kousei responded, which was received more by Aika than Shusui.

Just when odd winners had left, another voice from the left side of Kousei entered: "You make quite an impression on Shusui, I must say. I have never seen him exposing his emotions like that."

Kaori and Kousei turned together and noticed that the voice came from Nash. They greeted each other, and Kousei asked what Nash meant earlier. The boy explained: "I have known Shusui for a long time. Even when he won in big contest, he was always calm. A few days ago he defeated me completely in our small competition, and his face was as cool as when he took a walk in the park. He was definitely thinking, 'defeating Nash was easy as pie'. But today you can notice he boast about his victory against you. Very unusual."

"Really? So what does it mean?" Kousei and Kaori were both hooked by Nash's revelation.

"It means," Nash smiled cheekily and mysteriously, "that he considers you a threat. He doesn't think defeating you was easy, Kousei. He was testing your will, that guy." Nash's excitement in his voice showed that he was amused knowing Shusui finally felt some obstacles.

"Wow, alright!" Kousei was entertained by the idea as well. Meeting the same thought in Kaori's eyes, Kousei replied to Nash: "We will make sure he felt even more vulnerable next time we meet."

"Cool!" Nash exclaimed, "and from now, let's try our best! We will see who will surpass Shusui first, me or you guys!" And with that energetic challenge, Nash waved the two goodbye and went away.

Kousei watched the boy walked away. He was certainly pleased with the much less arrogant version of Nash and was thinking maybe his unsuccessful play had affected him. Whatever the reason, Kousei was still glad he had found another interesting pianist, a friend and also a rival.

* * *

"Look how popular my Kousei had become!" An excited voice of a young girl came from behind Kousei and Kaori.

The two turned around quickly and realized it was Aurora who ambushed them. Kousei was confused, thinking " _Did I hear 'popular'? How so?_ " while Kaori was triggered by a different words, " _Did she just say 'my Kousei'?_ " Overall, the expressions on their faces were hilarious to Aurora.

"Just after one night and Shusui paid attention to you, and Nash thought of you as his rival. Wow, I can't even imagine! This is surprising!" Aurora ended her explanation with a sweet laughter.

"Ah…" Kousei was about to say something when Kaori interrupted "Hey Aurora, what do you mean by 'my Kousei'?" Her brows frowned and her mouth formed a jealous pout.

Meeting the burning look of Kaori, Aurora quickly diverted: "Oh it's just European things, hehe… Anyway, I come to say something important." She continued with a serious voice, having gained the attention of listeners, "I have lost the bet with you, Kaori. You guys placed second, while I only had third prize. So I'm here to fulfill my obligation. Tell me what you want me to do."

Kaori was surprised at the direct and gallant approach of Aurora. She spoke, unconsciously trying to ease the situation: "Oh I see. That's noble of you, Aurora. I haven't think of anything for you to do. Maybe… maybe we can just forget about the bet?" Kaori was satisfied enough with today that she didn't want to claim the reward from the weird bet she had made a week earlier.

"Oh, don't be like that. A bet is a bet, Kaori, and the loser must feel something. So," Aurora looked at Kaori with confident eyes, "I give you five minutes to think of the punishment for me. It's your responsibility."

"Ah, okay, if you say so." Kaori thought that insisting Aurora would hurt her pride, and therefore it was better to think of some funny punishment.

"Hey Kousei," the foreign girl returned to the boy, "it's a pity I cannot get you to join the European tour. Don't you think so?" Her voice was subtly sweet and her eyes made an attractive glare.

"Haha, no thank you." Kousei answered lightly.

"That's because you don't know what's in the tour." Aurora didn't plan to give up, "There will be payment. I guarantee it would be more handsome that part-time jobs. Plus you get to do what you want, which is playing the piano." Aurora penetrated Kousei's eyes to test whether he was interested. "And don't worry about school, the tour will take place in summer when everyone is having vacation. Of course, you will be travelling to famous cities of Europe. Those places are music capitals of the world, you know. You will come to Vienna, Rome, Paris…"

Aurora continued her test, but Kousei still responded rather coldly. But when she named the famous musicians that would be the mentors for those young participants of the tour, Kousei's eyes sparked some interest. Knowing the boy had took the bait, she spoke enthusiastically, "Oh you are interested in the mentorship program? That's right, the tour is for young musician to show their talent and to learn from the best. I guarantee you would learn a lot if you joined."

Kousei was about to reply to show his interest, but he thought it would affect Kaori. He looked at his girlfriend to see whether she was paying attention to the conversation between him and Aurora. The moment their eyes met, Kousei realized that Kaori was thinking about the opportunities that he lost by not joining the tour.

" _This tour is such a great thing for Kousei. Oh what do I do?"_ Kaori thought. Then an idea suddenly popped in her brain. She spoke to the chatty girl immediately while smiling playfully, "Hey Aurora, I know what I want. I want you to take both of us to join the tour you are talking about!"

"What, Kaori?" Kousei was stunned when he heard her request. "Don't you think it's too much to ask?"

Kaori turned to him and asked, "What? Do you want to go to Europe with me?" She looked so charming and determined that Kousei stuttered: "W..well yeah, b..but that's not what I mean. I think it's too difficult for Aurora to do, you know."

Hearing Kousei's worry, Aurora laughed, "Haha! Don't underestimate me. I wouldn't have made the bet if I couldn't at least take you guys to join me." She continued with excitement, "Don't worry, Kousei. In fact, I'm happy to do what Kaori just asked. So it's a deal, Kaori?" She looked at the other girl with a big smile.

"Yep. Fixed." Kaori responded with the same joyful tone.

"Ah, wait… how..." Kousei still found it hard to believe what Aurora said.

"Still have doubt?" Aurora spoke to convince Kousei, "Let me tell you a secret. My dad is the content organizer of this tour and he tells me to go hunt and invite young talented musicians. He would be happy to know that I invited a few from Japan. You know, we really want multicultural participants in our show. It's a win-win, right?"

Kousei couldn't provide any objection. He stood there, dumbfounded with the fact that two girls were deciding his fate.

Aurora said farewell to the two after telling them some details necessary for the journey that would take place in a few months. But before leaving, she turned around and mischievously asked Kaori: "Hehe. In this tour, there will be some cute and talented girls trying to steal Kousei from you. No regret, Kaori?"

Kaori held Kousei arm close with a strong grip that was almost painful. "Nope. See you!"

* * *

Kaori and Kousei greeted Hiroko and little Koharu at the entrance of the music hall. Hiroko gave Kousei her signature smirk plus a big thumbs up when her boy introduce his violin partner to her. She also gave some comments about the performance, which made the two teens proud and also showed several things to improve.

Kousei told Hiroko about the upcoming tour in Europe. He was still bothered because of its suddenness. In contrast, Hiroko seemed to be excited about the news.

"What are you worried about, Kousei? Go! Join it! It is a great opportunity for you guys. Well if the girl Aurora keeps her promise."

With the encouragement, Kousei's anxiety was eased a bit. He prepared himself: " _Got to practice. Well I have to contact Aurora to know how the show is organized."_

When they had chatted for a few minutes, Tsubaki and Watari joined in and greeted everyone. Tsubaki spoke compassionately: "It's a pity you guys didn't win the first place."

"Yeah, such a pity. But it's okay." Kaori replied with untroubled voice, "we will win next time."

"But what about your high school? Didn't you say that if you couldn't win this contest, you will have trouble applying in the musical school?"

"Ahh!" Kaori cried, waving her hand in panic, "Oh no, what should I do?" She seemed to forget that the importance of first prize, having focused too much on the nice experience of their performance.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Kaori." said Kousei pitifully. Trying to save the situation, he proposed what was on his mind: "It's harder now, but there's still a way, if you want to. I think if you have average mark of 7.0 or above after the final examination, you still have a chance. The high school office will look at how you have played too and they will know you deserve to study in their school."

"But…" Kaori was terrified when she thought about her marks at school. With her hands covering the shame on her face, she muttered "My results so far are flat low, so I have to get 9 or 10 in every subject' final exam." She searched her head and couldn't remember what those subjects were about.

"I guess we have to try." Kousei replied, not wanting to discourage the girl. Tsubaki and Watari also wanted to offer their help. Despite all the look of encouragement that her friends gave her, Kaori still thought it was nearly impossible to overcome the obstacles ahead.

"Kaori, I think there's another way." Hiroko suddenly joined the conversation about school. She continued when all the teens had paid attention to her, "Another way for you to get in the musical school. From what I know, if you perform really well in the Europe tour, and if you get some letters of recommendation from the famous mentors that Aurora mentioned, the musical school here will accept you."

"Wow!" Kousei's face brightened even faster than Kaori's when he saw the new light of hope. "Then let's do our best, Kaori!" His partner seemed to agree this way was easier than studying difficult subjects in order to get a 9 or 10 in final exams.

"Wait, you guys are going to Europe? When? How?" Tsubaki's voice was full of surprised. It seemed her friends had leapt too far ahead of her. Seeing the puzzled eyes of Tsubaki and Watari, Kousei briefly explained the situation, how Aurora met Kaori and Kousei after the ceremony, how Kaori proposed to join the tour, and how Aurora gladly accepted the seemingly unreasonable request.

When he finished, Tsubaki commented delightfully: "Sounds great, Kaori. I'm so jealous you guys are going to Europe. But try your best! And don't forget to tell me everything, okay?" She turned to Watari and asked "To think Aurora is so helpful. Aren't you surprised, Watari?"

"Yeah I'm surprised, but what I like about this is the love triangle." He continued, a smirk appeared on his face, "This is the love triangle I want to watch. The fight between two violin girls to see who will have Kousei. Definitely great to… Ack"

Tsubaki grabbed his ear and twisted, yelling "What are you talking about?" Kaori joined the oppression soon enough by twisting the other ear of Watari. Kousei chose to stay out and watched the miserable Watari, thinking it was weird that the target of abuse was changed from himself to this famous and well-liked boy.

While his friends were kidding around, Kousei phased out, contemplating on the contest he had just experienced and the tour ahead.

" _The will be a lot of things ahead for us, Kaori. You and I are just beginning on our music journey. But there's one thing I'm sure of. The experience we had on stage today will forever stay in my heart, and it will definitely guide us to the beautiful future."_

* * *

 **Author note:**

 **I hope you guys can tell me what you think about this chapter, what to improve... in the comment. Thanks!**

 **And:**

 **Thank you all for taking a look at my first fanfic ever! What a great journey I have writing this, and even though the fanfic might seem too simple and faulty, I still love the time I spent for it.**

 **I give my special thank to** **ProdigalSnake** , **the author of Love's Melody, which fanfic had inspired me and had provided the ground on which I built my fanfic. Thank you Anglepaw33, who was the first one that commented on my fanfic. Your help and your encouragement are valuable to me. And thank you Carameleo. Friend, your suggestions in the comments and in the mails we exchanged had taught me much about writing. And I also appreciate the support that you guys gave by commenting, following, liking, viewing my fanfic...**

 **I said my fanfic has come to conclusion, but it doesn't mean I find nothing else to write. In fact, I made an open ending so that one day my fanfic can be continued. Maybe, when I have more knowledge about the musician's world.**

 **I wish you all a good day! See you later!**


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